Denny Hamlin was left surprised by Michael Jordan’s partner’s peculiar clothing choice at Darlington

As the NASCAR Cup Series regular season concluded at Darlington, an unusual incident involving Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan’s partner, Curtis Polk, unfolded at Darlington, centering on the ongoing charter negotiations. Polk wore a distinctive shirt that humorously commented on the situation. The Tampa native shared his surprise over Polk's way of addressing the situation during his podcast.

When Curtis Polk appeared at Darlington, he sported a piece of paper pinned to the back of his shirt that stated:

"Please don’t ask me about my Charter. I don’t want to disparage NASCAR and lose it."

During an episode of "Actions Detrimental," co-host Jared Allen asked Denny Hamlin for his thoughts on a noticeable incident, but Hamlin was reluctant to elaborate. Nevertheless, he admitted his astonishment at seeing Curtis Polk wearing such a provocative shirt throughout the event. Denny Hamlin remarked:

"I would choose not to speak about [Polk’s shirt], but it kind of speaks for itself, and I can’t believe he actually wore that. They do not want you speaking negatively, that’s a new add to the charter agreement. We’ll see how that goes. NASCAR’s got their stance and the teams have there’s. We’ll just see where this goes the next few weeks."

At Darlington, Bob Pockrass from Fox Sports also intended to question Polk about the charters but was greeted instead by the sign on Polk’s shirt. Addressing this, Pockrass later noted on his official X handle:

"Cup teams apparently got another charter offer from NASCAR this week. At least this member of the team owners negotiating committee (23XI’s Curtis Polk) doesn’t want to talk about it."

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Denny Hamlin weighed in on the ongoing discussions regarding the new charter agreement

Last week, teams reviewed the latest draft from NASCAR as negotiations continue over key aspects of the deal, particularly regarding the level of influence teams will have on NASCAR-related rule changes anticipated over the next seven years, from 2025 to 2031.

These negotiations have been underway for two years. And while teams appear to have secured a commitment from NASCAR to boost the share of media rights revenue they receive in the next term, there remains a sharp disagreement on several issues. Signs of ongoing tension were evident this past weekend at Darlington Raceway as well.

On his podcast, Denny Hamlin discussed his stance and the conditions under which 23XI Racing would accept the deal offered by NASCAR, stating:

"It's never been great. I think, personally, from 23XI's perspective, we would take a decent deal not even a fair deal just a decent one." [at 53:24]

NASCAR is eager to finalize a new governing charter system with its premier series teams this week to prevent the discussions from overlapping with the playoffs, which are set to begin this weekend in Atlanta, according to insiders.