NASCAR has confirmed in court documents that it intends to transfer one of the charters tied up in a legal dispute with 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
NASCAR filed legal documents in the Western District of North Carolina on Monday saying that a party had expressed interest in obtaining a charter multiple times over the past several years. NASCAR stated that it intended to issue a charter to this interested party after the Court reviewed the notice, provided the Court did not issue a ruling preventing this transfer.
The documents redacted the identity of this entity. NASCAR also requested that the Court and the legal teams involved keep this identity confidential during Thursday's hearing.
23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports, and NASCAR will return to court in Charlotte, North Carolina, regarding a request from the two teams to return to chartered status until the end of the Cup Series season.
NASCAR did not specify in its document whether it intends to sell the charter to the new owner or transfer it for free.
"NASCAR respects the Court's directive that notice must be provided prior to any conveyance or sale and reiterates that it will not do so until such time as the Court promptly rules on Plaintiffs' pending motion for preliminary injunction," NASCAR's notice stated.
The charter in question is one of the four that 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports owned under the 2016 Charter Agreement. These two organizations do not currently have these charters after the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a preliminary injunction granted last December.
NASCAR also indicated that the two teams gave up the rights to these charters when they refused to sign the 2025 Charter Agreement last September.
The two other charters previously belonged to Stewart-Haas Racing. The preliminary injunction forced NASCAR to approve the sale of these charters to 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, respectively, but the appeals court also overturned this ruling.
The future of these two charters remains in question until this legal dispute resolves.
NASCAR previously indicated in a motion that it would take funds from the potential sale of these two charters to other owners and pay 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports what they had originally paid Stewart-Haas Racing.
Any remaining funds from a bidding process would go to the teams that signed the 2025 Charter Agreement.
"In the interest of full transparency, NASCAR makes this filing in order to provide notice of its intent to convey a Charter for the 2026 Cup Series season," NASCAR said.
"For avoidance of doubt, this Notice of Intent does not relate to the Charters that were previously issued to Stewart-Haas Racing and subsequently assigned pursuant to the District Court's Order to Front Row and 23XI Racing teams."