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The ongoing legal proceedings between NASCAR and Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing took an interesting turn on Monday thanks to a newly introduced exhibit.
While the trial itself is set to start on Dec. 1, we’re currently in the discovery part of the pre-trial phase. 23XI and Front Row Motorsports are attempting to prove that NASCAR operates as a monopoly, and they’ve already received some small victories along the way.
However, a new piece of evidence submitted on Monday could lead to some tension on the 23XI side of the suit.
From exhibits released, found this somewhat intriguing … from MJ’s CFO email analyzing 23XI in March 2024 … Some might consider it a knock on Denny but my guess is it’s not rare for a race team to have financial people at odds with those who lead racing/competition dept. pic.twitter.com/8q56Lf5LLm
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) November 10, 2025
Michael Jordan’s CFO Slams Co-Owner Denny Hamlin
NASCAR beat writer Bob Pockrass revealed an email exchange between Michael Jordan and his Chief Financial Officer. In the filing, Jordan’s CFO gives a scathing review of Hamlin, calling him a ‘terrible businessman’ who simply “regurgitates” what his former crew chief, Chris Gabehart, tells him.
“He does not know as much as he thinks he does about race strategy and the other nuts and bolts of racing. Denny relies on regurgitating what Chris Gabehart says as if it were gospel,” the email stated. “He’s a terrible business man. He ascribes to the dumb theory that if [type] spend more money it will translate into wins and speed. This is only true to a small extent.
“He is always telling the team that money that money is no object and that he is making the decisions on how to spend it. This pushes the staff to make decisions that are not necessarily the best but they feel they have to make those decisions.
“Whenever Curtis or I disagree with him he accuses us of not valuing him which is very far from the truth and why we had to have the meeting at the Grove during the sponsor summit last year.”
The email wasn’t all bad. It did not that Hamlin is one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time and that he’s driven to see 23XI succeed and knows how to prepare for and win races as well as anyone.
But that’s quite the scathing rebuke. And it’s fair to wonder if, even if 23XI wins the suit, if it will strain team chemistry moving forward.