NASCAR’s 23XI race team isn’t letting the tentative nature of its future interfere with plans to expand.
The team, co-owned by Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin and Curtis Polk, visited the “Going Out of Business” sale at Stewart-Haas Racing and came away with a pretty good find: Riley Herbst, the veteran Xfinity Series driver who will now pilot a third 23XI Toyota beginning next season in the Cup Series.
All this while the legal machine plows ahead with the antitrust suit against NASCAR filed by 23XI and Front Row Motorsports.
GREAT AMERICAN READ: Celebrate iconic history of Daytona 500 with new book; foreword by Richard Petty
The “tentative” mentioned above involves the loss of race-team franchise protections (except they’re called “charters” and not franchises in NASCAR). The 36 chartered teams are guaranteed a starting spot in every Cup Series race, with as many as four non-chartered teams allowed to grow a race field to a max of 40 cars.
Except now there are just 32 chartered teams, since 23XI and FRM didn’t sign the new NASCAR-race teams charter agreement late last season and instead opted for the lawsuit. Or maybe there’s only 30 chartered teams currently.
It’s a long story.
Who will and won’t make the Daytona 500?
This past season, six of the 36 Cup races maxed out at 40 entries. The all-important, season-opening Daytona 500 actually had 42 cars try to qualify, which means two of them — driven by JJ Yeley and Kaz Grala — failed to qualify for the big race.
So now some math. Thirty-two cars, or perhaps just 30 (we’ll get to that), will arrive at Daytona with guaranteed entry into the Feb. 16 Super Bowl of stock-car racing. Presumably, the six non-chartered cars owned by 23XI and FRM (FRM purchased a third charter, for 2025 and beyond, this past season from Stewart-Haas) will also come to town, which puts us at 38 cars.
Or is it 36? Arghh!
If, by chance, six other non-chartered cars are dropped from the haulers at Daytona, as happened last season, we’re at 44 (or yes, maybe 42) cars and two or four would make the drive-of-shame north on I-95 after Thursday’s qualifying races.
Charter or not? NASCAR lawsuit complicates things
Here’s why we’re hedging here on the numbers. NASCAR isn’t giving any updates on the status of an additional charter purchased by both FRM and 23XI. You’d logically assume they’re also now non-chartered cars since they’re part of the non-chartered stables, but then again, you’re not a lawyer privy to this info.
It’s complicated, as they say, but will come out in the wash eventually.
Front Row brings NASCAR speed, if not a NASCAR charter
It’s highly likely the 23XI and FRM cars will be of better quality than any of the other non-chartered Daytona 500 hopefuls, but that doesn’t always translate to better results. Things happen when the green flag drops, as you may have noticed.
If recent history holds, this may not be an issue for all of FRM, which fielded the pole-winning car in three of the four superspeedway races at Daytona and Talladega this past season. Michael McDowell, who drove the No. 34 Ford to those three poles — and was second in the one he didn’t win — has since left FRM and will now drive for Spire Motorsports.
Michael McDowell has won his SIXTH Pole of 2024, tied for the most in a season since 2018
Additionally, he has won 5 consecutive Poles on superspeedways, the most in nearly FOURTY years (Bill Elliott 1986/1986) pic.twitter.com/58tc64CCxX
— Trey Ryan (@TreyRyan99) October 5, 2024
Todd Gilliland remains at FRM with a new teammate, Noah Gragson, and maybe Zane Smith, if rumors hold. And since there’s been no word of turnover within the engineering department, let’s assume the FRM team will be packing plenty of horsepower when they head south in February.
Oh, Riley Herbst? Meet new teammate for Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick
In the midst of all this, Herbst might prove to be a quality pickup for 23XI and the Toyota camp as a whole.
Herbst, a Las Vegas native, drove a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing during the 2020 Xfinity Series season, but has been in a Stewart-Haas Ford ever since. His three career wins came in the past two years and include his victory in the 2024 season finale at Phoenix two weekends ago.
He won earlier in the season at Indianapolis and last year at Vegas.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Michael Jordan takes timeout from NASCAR lawsuit to add to 23XI team
