DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR has no shortage of storylines headed into its 76th season and the biggest one is the federal court showdown between the stock car series and NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan.Jordan’s 23XI Cup Series team that he co-owns with three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin didn’t like the terms of the take-it-or-leave-it charter offer last fall and, along with Front Row Motorsports, refused to sign as 13 others did. The two teams will race this season — 23XI’s driver, Tyler Reddick, was the regular-season champion and a title contender — as the case proceeds.23XI and Front Row head into the season-opening Daytona 500 this weekend coming off a flurry of courtroom victories, including one that recognizes and compensates their six combined cars as chartered entries. A trial is set for December after the season ends. There are enough positives that everyone seemed excited to get back to racing when they gathered this month for a throwback to the early days of NASCAR at historic Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.— This year marks the start of a new seven-year television package that welcomes Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery to a multi-network deal spanning the February through November season.— NASCAR will take the Cup Series outside the United States for a race that counts for the first time in the modern era. Its two previous points races outside the U.S. were in Canada, in 1952 and 1958, and all other events outside the country were exhibitions. NASCAR will race in Mexico City in June, a chance to stars as Mexican driver Daniel Suarez. NASCAR will use the same track that Formula 1 uses, and the hope is to land younger fans. “I actually think things are in an OK place,” said Chase Elliott, voted the most popular driver by fans seven times. The son of Hall of Fame driver Bill Elliott said he believes NASCAR’s current leadership group “has been open to more change over the past three or four years” than the past three decades.NASCAR has been owned and operated by the Daytona-based France family since its 1948 inception. “As long as we’re willing to say that some of the stuff hasn’t been good, then it’s fine,” Elliott said of competition issues the past few years. “I hope we can continue to go in a good direction.”Nine drivers will attempt to qualify for one of the four open spots in the Daytona 500. Among the nine are seven-time NASCAR champion and two-time race winner Jimmie Johnson, former Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves in his NASCAR debut. NASCAR last month went public with a new rule that could expand the field to 41 to accommodate a world-class driver. It was earmarked for Castroneves, who, if he doesn’t earn one of the four open spots, will race as an extra car not eligible for payment or points.Johnson and Truex could have be …
