The NASCAR garage has been increasingly tense for weeks due to a heated antitrust dispute dividing the sport, a conflict veteran driver Jeff Burton is deliberately steering clear of.
At the center of the storm are 23XI Racing, co-owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin. Front Row Motorsports is also involved, pushing back against NASCAR over business practices they say harm the teams.
For many in the sport, the legal drama has become an unavoidable backdrop to the season. But for veteran driver Jeff Burton, the off-track chaos is something he’s choosing not to let into his lane.
Jeff Burton Keeps His Eyes on the Track
“I mean, I’ll be honest with you. Unfortunately, in these things like that, things kind of get ugly from time to time, and you wish they didn’t,”
Jeff Burton admitted when asked about the ongoing dispute. His message was clear: he’d rather let the lawyers and executives hash it out while he keeps his eyes on the track.
Jeff Burton emphasized that this year’s playoff field is far too competitive to waste energy on anything else.
“I’m trying to stay away from that. Trying to focus on the racing. We’ve had a lot of great racing this year ’cause the playoffs are the closest they’ve ever been. And so, honestly, that’s getting all my energy.”
It’s a measured response from someone who has seen the sport go through its share of political dustups. Jeff Burton knows NASCAR thrives on the drama of door-to-door battles and photo finishes, not lawsuits and leaked text messages.
Leaked Messages Expose NASCAR’s Internal Tensions
And yet, the texts are out there, adding fuel to an already fiery dispute.
A series of private exchanges has surfaced recently, offering a rare glimpse into the fractured relationship between the two parties.
When questions about the future of team ownership and revenue-sharing came up, Jordan pushed back against the idea of selling his stake.
“I’m not selling even if they were for sale. What would we do?” he said in a conversation that also included a joking reply from Curtis Polk, 23XI’s other co-owner: “This is just a hobby!!!” Jordan’s retort summed up his competitive nature perfectly: “I can only play but so much golf.”
On the other side, NASCAR executives were hardly hiding their frustrations either. Steve Phelps admitted negotiations had flatlined, bluntly calling one early proposal “zero wins for the teams.”
He also warned that the eventual deal “must reflect a middle position or we are dead in the water.”
According to Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press, even NASCAR’s own president of competition, Steve O’Donnell, ripped an early draft, saying “it would drag the system back to ‘1996 terms’ with an attitude of, ‘(Expletive) the teams, dictatorship, motorsport, redneck, southern, tiny sport.”
Fryer also reported that Jeffrey Kessler, attorney for 23XI and Front Row, pointed to these exchanges and NASCAR’s contingency plans to block rival competition as clear proof the sanctioning body is trying to monopolize stock car racing.
That tension is exactly what Jeff Burton and many fans, frankly, want to tune out. Because while boardroom battles can reshape the business, it’s the intensity of the racing that keeps the sport alive.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post NASCAR vs. 23XI and Front Row: Antitrust Battle Divides Sport as Burton Stays Focused appeared first on Heavy Sports.