NASCAR champion closely linked to return to former team

A judge ruled in favor of 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports last week, meaning that they can indeed sign the charter agreement and pursue their antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR.

The preliminary injunction allows them to race as chartered teams using their existing two charters, and it also allows them to purchase one charter each from Stewart-Haas Racing, giving them three each and positioning NASCAR to run the usual 36 charters in 2025 after all.

23XI Racing had already confirmed a third driver, announcing last month that Riley Herbst is set to join Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick in their lineup for next year. Front Row Motorsports, however, had not.

Zane Smith linked to Front Row Motorsports for 2025

The team announced that Todd Gilliland is set to move from the No. 38 Ford to the No. 34 Ford that had been driven by the Spire Motorsports-bound Michael McDowell. They also signed former Stewart-Haas Racing driver Noah Gragson, though his car number remains TBD. The third car number also remains TBD.

Zane Smith, who was actually once contractually tied to the team through 2026, has long been linked to the team for 2025. Smith won the 2022 Truck Series championship with Bob Jenkins' organization and remained with the team in 2023 before he was given permission to seek rides elsewhere, despite having signed a long-term deal with Front Row Motorsports.

Smith ended up with Spire Motorsports and competed as a rookie during the 2024 Cup Series season. He recorded a top finish of second place at Nashville Superspeedway, but the team opted to move on from him ahead of the 2025 season. McDowell is set to replace him behind the wheel of the No. 71 Chevrolet.

While it was expected that Smith would get the nod to return to Front Row Motorsports with a Cup Series ride next year one way or another, the fact that the team are indeed allowed to run three chartered entries, as opposed to three open (non-chartered) entries, in 2025 should make this confirmation a formality.

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to get underway on Sunday, February 16 with the 67th annual Daytona 500. Fox is set to provide live coverage of the "Great American Race" from Daytona International Speedway beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.