Tensions in the ongoing NASCAR lawsuit spiked with the recent release of a three-year-old email from 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin, exposing deep divides between team owners and executives at a pivotal moment for the sport’s future. The Denny Hamlin NASCAR lawsuit email not only brought internal frustrations into the open but also highlighted fundamental disagreements over how NASCAR should operate and grow.
Private Hamlin Email Sheds Light on NASCAR Ownership Conflict
The latest twist in the NASCAR lawsuit centers on an email exchange dating back to 2022, now unearthed amidst mounting legal pressure. The message, authored by Denny Hamlin following a direct meeting with NASCAR’s Jim France, revealed layers of longstanding frustration between the sanctioning body and its most influential figures. Hamlin drafted the note after his talk with France, and it quickly became a focal point in ongoing discussions about the direction of NASCAR as a business and a sport.
Hamlin’s message did not mince words. He captured the essence of the divide with a pointed query:
“Why should I keep investing in this sport once I’m done driving?”
—Denny Hamlin, 23XI Co-owner. The question struck at the heart of the debate flowing through the racing community, especially as team owners like Hamlin, Curtis Polk, and business partner Michael Jordan began pressing NASCAR for a more sustainable economic model.
Within the email, Hamlin made it clear that his concerns were not rhetorical but represented a genuine threat to the status quo, ultimately serving as a catalyst for the lawsuit. He contrasted the visions held by investors and business-oriented team owners with the stance of NASCAR’s executives, especially Jim France. According to Hamlin, the prevailing business model failed to allow teams to recover their financial commitments, preventing them from achieving profitability beyond a driver’s active years.
The email narrative painted a scene where business partners, including Michael Jordan, became increasingly exasperated, while Jim France, as described by Hamlin, remained fixed on cost-cutting as the solution. France’s approach, as relayed from the conversation, emphasized belt-tightening:
“We need to continue to find ways to cut the team’s cost,”
—Jim France, NASCAR Executive. Hamlin countered that persistent reductions had already left teams operating with little room for further savings, questioning whether it was realistic to expect growth by simply trimming expenses.
Clashing Perspectives on NASCAR’s Evolution
Hamlin’s correspondence also resurrected broader philosophical differences about NASCAR’s direction. He accused France of holding onto an outdated notion of team ownership, imagining today’s operators as garage-based racers who did not view profit and reinvestment as core goals. Hamlin interpreted France’s preferences as favoring former drivers turned owners like Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who—France believed—understood the traditional fabric of the sport:
“get what we are doing here.”
—Jim France, NASCAR Executive. This attitude, Hamlin argued, marginalized outsiders and sophisticated investors, undermining the prospects for meaningful revenue-sharing or modernization.
By laying bare these tensions, Hamlin hoped to warn NASCAR leadership that failing to adapt risked damaging the sport’s relevance and financial health. The email made clear that Hamlin and his peers saw themselves not simply as participants, but as partners whose investments and ambitions deserved consideration in shaping NASCAR’s future. As the email circulated among other team executives, it served as a lightning rod—validating private complaints across the pit lane and emerging as a touchstone in legal filings and negotiations. Hamlin’s note did not offer a list of demands, but rather a warning signal—his concerns echoing throughout the ongoing legal contest between NASCAR and its key teams.
Lawsuit Records Unveil NASCAR’s Global Expansion Ambitions
The drama of the Denny Hamlin NASCAR lawsuit email was not the sole revelation found in recent court filings. Alongside the discovery of Hamlin’s email, the lawsuit unearthed documentation that pointed beyond the domestic turf war, shining a spotlight on NASCAR’s covert efforts to expand internationally. Hidden within the pile of legal disclosures, a detailed proposal described one of the most ambitious ventures in modern motorsport—a full-scale NASCAR-style event in the Sultanate of Oman, designed for a prime-time global audience.
NASCAR’s overseas aspirations have percolated in the background for years, evidenced by previous ventures into Mexico City, Canada, Europe, Brazil, and Japan. But the Oman proposal, brought to light within the lawsuit, suggested a far more sophisticated and spectacular approach. The outline specified 15 cars divided across three teams. Each would be captained by an American crew chief, a well-known retired driver, or a celebrity team owner. Driver rosters for each group would feature a combination of current Cup drivers, an Omani competitor, and a wildcard guest sourced from across motorsports.
The innovative format envisioned four rounds, each consisting of either 50 laps or a 20-minute sprint, with the starting grid reset before every stage. Opening round qualifying would be traditional, while the second round would invert the entire field, and the third would use team points as the lineup basis. Top qualifiers could even choose to start from the back to claim bonus points, engineering a race that prioritized unpredictability and highlighted driver recovery skills.
Venue plans were equally bold, suggesting either a temporary oval built within Sultan Qaboos Stadium—a nod to the LA Coliseum Clash concept—or a street circuit along the scenic Muscat waterfront, with direct comparisons made to Monaco’s legendary Grand Prix architecture. Organizers included logistics details and cost projections, proving this was more than mere blue-sky thinking.
High Stakes for NASCAR and Its Stakeholders
The exposure of this international plan demonstrates just how far the organization and its partners have prepared to take their brand. While the Oman race remains a proposal, its entry into the public domain via lawsuit documents reveals an intent to shift NASCAR from an American-centered pastime to a truly global property. As negotiations between team owners, executive leadership, and outside investors move into the spotlight, the global dimension adds new complexity to the dispute.
The lawsuit’s revelations have left all sides—team owners like Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan, business stakeholders such as Curtis Polk, and sanctioning body leaders led by Jim France—jostling for influence over NASCAR’s trajectory. The newly public Hamlin email, with its open challenge about continued investment, has become an emblem of the stakes involved. It underscores the depth of frustration among owners, urges the sport’s leaders to recognize the contribution of modern business-savvy teams, and frames the legal dispute as central not just to current operations, but to NASCAR’s long-term growth and international potential.
With the global ambitions surfacing alongside internal tensions, all eyes now rest on the outcome of the NASCAR lawsuit. Decisions made in the courtroom or negotiation room will determine whether NASCAR adapts to modern realities—embracing both its heritage and a broader, worldwide audience—or risks alienating key investors and stalling its own evolution at a crucial crossroads.
An email from Denny Hamlin in 2022 to a few other team executives after a conversation with Jim France: pic.twitter.com/ZfGrx07WzY
— Kelly Crandall (@KellyCrandall) November 22, 2025
