Front Row Motorsports was one of the two teams that filed a charter lawsuit against NASCAR in 2024. This not only sent a ripple across the NASCAR fraternity but also put the team’s future in question. Fast forward to 2026, the lawsuit reached a landmark settlement, and with FRM’s future secured, one of its drivers could finally breathe easy.

FRM remained strong amid lawsuit scare

Todd Gilliland, the poster boy of Front Row Motorsports, was one of the guests on the recent NASCAR Live podcast. Speaking about his team, the 25-year-old shared how FRM left the lawsuit behind and is gearing up to kick-start the 2026 season.

“With the lawsuit behind us, it’s easy to say kind of all throughout the summer, right?” Gilliland said. “It’s not affecting us. We’re focused on what we’re doing. But once it was settled, just seeing the smiles on all of our guys’ faces, right?”

Despite having their future in jeopardy for over a year, Front Row Motorsports managed to keep the team intact, only losing a handful of people. It felt like a breath of fresh air to Gilliland:

“I think I’m most just proud that we lost maybe one or two guys out of 150 people that we have in our shop when to me that just shows everyone’s really bought in and I think it’s really, really helped that atmosphere going into this year.”

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In October 2024, FRM, owned by Bob Jenkins, and 23XI Racing, co-owned by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan, filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR. The plaintiffs alleged that the governing body operated as a monopoly and forced the teams to accept unfair terms.

With the lawsuit, the two teams wanted to establish fair revenue sharing and long-term stability. The case in the United States federal court continued for over one year before both parties signed a mutual agreement.

While the financial details remained confidential, the teams were able to bargain a few terms on their side — such as evergreen charters, increased revenue, and backdated compensation for the teams that lost income for being uncharted teams during the litigation.

As a result, FRM was able to continue with three full-time charters for Todd Gilliland, Noah Gragson, and Zane Smith, and one part-time charter for Chandler Smith. While FRM kept their hopes alive, so did 23XI, as their star driver lauded the team’s combined effort.

FRM’s lawsuit partner thrived in the team game despite issues

Just like FRM, 23XI Racing got the same charter benefits after the settlement. The team kept its charters, drivers, and everything in place throughout the trial. Bubba Wallace, the team’s star driver, could not help but praise the crew for this, as he stated:

“I look at it from the people that showed up to work each and every day knowing that there was something of that magnitude looming, and they still gave their effort to build us the fastest race cars to the best of their abilities and they didn’t let that affect them. Now, with all that going away, I can only imagine there’s a massive sigh of relief for them, they can continue to do what they do, show up and give their best effort.”

Similar to FRM, they also have three full-time charters for Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, and Riley Herbst, and a part-time charter for Corey Heim. Last year, 23XI Racing was statistically a better team as Reddick qualified for the playoffs and finished in ninth place.

On the other hand, FRM failed to put on a show as Todd Gilliland, Zane Smith, and Noah Gragson finished the season in 27th, 28th, and 34th places. With that said, it will now be interesting to see how FRM performs this year, given that they will no longer have the lawsuit acting as a headache.