Front Row Motorsports Cup driver Noah Gragson says the team’s involvement in the antitrust suit against NASCAR “stunted” its growth during the 2025 season because of the uncertainty surrounding the organization.
“I feel like the lawsuit, and everything last year took up a lot of energy and focus,” Gragson said. “It was just a distraction.
“I’ve unfortunately been a part of a lot of changes in my Cup career. When you have that lawsuit going on, the unknowns of, are we going to be racing in 2026 and beyond? What does it look like for the company? It’s almost impossible to hire people. People are looking at their tenure and seeing what they want to do in their career and maybe moving over to a different team with a little more security. Job security is something that helps them sleep at night.”
In late 2024, Front Row Motorsports joined 23XI Racing in an antitrust suit against NASCAR. Legal wrangling continued throughout the 2025 season. The case finally went to trial on December 1, 2025. The antitrust suit was settled on the trial’s ninth day before testimony concluded.
Now that the antitrust suit is behind them, Gragson and teammate Zane Smith believe the reinvestment in the team will soon be evident, helping project the organization closer to achieving its goals.
“I think it’s going to allow us to hire more people,” Gragson says. “I know they’re looking at different shop space and kind of relocating our shop and growing as a company. It just takes time and with that lawsuit, I think it definitely stunted that growth. Within the next 18 to 24 months, I think you’re really gonna start to see a lot of changes made.”
Smith cites Drew Blickensderfer’s new role as FRM’s competition director as a “positive impact” due to the many years he served as a crew chief. Initially, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck and Cup teams shared the same shop floor, but that’s no longer the case. The truck teams are now in a separate building.
However, Smith believes the organization has a “ways to go” to reach the top teams when it comes to personnel at the shop.
“Those top teams didn’t get there overnight,” Smith noted.
