Steve O’Donnell shared his thoughts on the current lawsuit between NASCAR and Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing, roughly around the same time when NASCAR fought to sell the team’s cars.

The NASCAR president has remained relatively mum on those matters, as the two sides continue to go back and forth on the lawsuit. Jordan’s 23XI Racing, co-owned by Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports (FRM) are suing NASCAR for alleged antitrust violations, with both sides pushing back.

Now, O’Donnell has expressed his thoughts on the situation the organization and Jordan’s team are in. Of note, NASCAR recently slammed Jordan after 23XI and FRM attempted to secure an injunction to restore the two teams’ charter statuses.

“I mean, I can’t get into the specifics of the litigation,” O’Donnell began during a one-on-one interview with Eric Estepp. “But it’s important that I think everyone knows the teams sued us, right? We didn’t ask for this.”

He added that NASCAR itself is not clear on what 23XI and FRM ultimately want as a resolution. “We’re still not sure what they’re even asking for, candidly, in terms of an outcome,” O’Donnell continued.

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“What we’ve seen really doesn’t have anything to do with why the lawsuit was brought. So it’s a little bit perplexing.”

Along with admitting that NASCAR is unsure what the two teams’ endgame is, O’Donnell stated it was “disappointing” for him personally that time is being spent discussing the lawsuit rather than “growing the sport.”

“I’m not sure our fans want to hear about lawsuits a lot of times,” he posited. “I know it’s out there. But we want to be talking about racing and future stars and where we’re going to race next and horsepower and have the debates.

“So listen, we’ll defend the sport and where we are. Hopefully, something can be resolved. But we’re concentrating on just growing the sport. At least that’s my job on a day-to-day basis.”

O’Donnell’s admission comes after NASCAR filed a response to Jordan’s team, claiming they should be allowed to sell the cars driven by 23XI, which includes cars driven by Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick. What’s more, NASCAR claims Jordan is using the lawsuit to “grant him a permanent Charter that no other team has.”

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“Unlike the Plaintiffs, many individuals and organizations, including the interested parties referenced above, view the 2025 Charters as a good investment and want to acquire them and work with NASCAR to further grow the Cup Series,” Phelps is quoted as saying.

Interestingly, NASCAR recently shared revenue information with fans, though it remained very wary of what information was actually shared.

NASCAR stated that payments to teams jumped 62 percent under the most recent charter agreement, which was introduced in September 2024. It is also claimed that NASCAR’s revenue distribution is more apparent compared to F1, where teams reportedly only receive 50 percent of the profits.