"I wouldn't wrap it up": Denny Hamlin seemingly defends Michael Jordan's business partner Curtis Polk after NASCAR's sharp statement
Denny Hamlin recently reacted to NASCAR lawyer Chris Yates' statement against Curtis Polk. Amid the ongoing lawsuit between 23XI Racing-Front Row Motorsports and NASCAR over charter disagreements, the stock car racing body counter-sued the two teams.
Amid all this, Yates fired a sharp statement against Polk, the right-hand man and longtime business partner of 23XI co-owner Michael Jordan. Speaking about Polk, NASCAR's lawyer claimed that he 'basically orchestrated and threatened a boycott' during a major NASCAR event.
Yates further claimed that Polk didn't understand the sport and he views it 'much more like the NBA', which NASCAR isn't.
"No motorsport is like that. He’s done a lot of things that might work in the NBA or might be OK in the NBA but just are not appropriate in NASCAR," Chris Yates said, as Denny Hamlin's co-host Jared Allen read on Actions Detrimental [44:30 onwards]
As this statement was read to Denny Hamlin by Allen, the former said what NASCAR is saying is their opinion, further adding:
"The only thing you would argue is F1 is very similar to the NBA, the way they do business over there is very, very similar. So I wouldn't wrap it up and say all motorsports."
It's worth mentioning that Jeffrey Kessler, the lawyer representing 23XI and FRM, deemed NASCAR counter-suing 'a meritless distraction.'
Denny Hamlin shares his opinions on what's next in NASCAR-23XI legal dispute
During the aforementioned episode of Actions Detrimental, Denny Hamlin was asked about any key dates in the charter lawsuit saga with NASCAR now counter-suing both the teams involved in the dispute. Shedding light on the date for the next hearing, which would be held in Richmond, Virginia, Hamlin said:
"They appealed the judge's ruling to grant us the injunction, that appeal will be heard by a panel on May 9th. But other than that, right now, we're all just going through the discovery process which will take months," he described.
This prompted Jared Allen to ask Denny Hamlin whether NASCAR counter-suing them further complicates the situation. The #11 driver said that while he's learning 'on the fly', it's just 'essentially another case' which the same judge will hear who went through their original lawsuit with NASCAR.
Allen then candidly asked Hamlin if he had any aspirations to be a lawyer. In response, the JGR driver expressed his curiosity while claiming that NASCAR fans would roll their eyes at him because they'd prefer him to focus on the track matters. Further during their conversation, Hamlin hilariously remarked that he should've paid more attention during his school days.
With that said, it'll be interesting to see how the 23XI Racing-Front Row Motorsports vs. NASCAR legal drama continues.