23XI Racing trolls Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick with viral Coldplay concert meme

23XI Racing drivers Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick recently got trolled by their team. 23XI Racing on X posted a photo of Wallace hugging Reddick from behind, recreating the Coldplay meme that recently went viral on the Internet.

Let’s reiterate what exactly happened at the concert. Andy Byron, CEO of Astronomer, a US-based AI data company, was captured on the concert’s kiss cam cuddling and hugging the company’s HR head, Kristin Cabot. When they appeared on the screen, they immediately stopped and tried to hide their faces from the camera. The spectacle prompted Coldplay’s lead vocalist Chris Martin to say, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy”.

Drawing a parallel from that incident, 23XI Racing captioned their post,

“Goes to one Coldplay concert.”

Wallace is in his fifth season driving the No. 23 Toyota Camry XSE for 23XI Racing, a three-car NASCAR Cup Series team owned by Denny Hamlin and NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan. Reddick, on the other hand, drives the No. 45 in his third season with the Huntersville, NC-based outfit.

As things stand, Wallace and Reddick are now 20 races into the season. Last week at Sonoma Raceway, Reddick finished sixth, thus delivering his 11th top-10 of 2025, while Wallace finished P26. Riley Herbst, who joined 23XI Racing just this year, ended up 25th.

23XI Racing is currently in a legal battle with NASCAR. They denied signing the sport’s newest charter agreement ahead of the 2025 season and sued NASCAR for practicing monopoly in the charter market.

As per the latest ruling by the US Federal Court, all three 23XI cars will run as open teams in their upcoming races at Dover Motor Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Furthermore, their requests for a preliminary injunction and a restraining order were turned down by the Judge.

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NASCAR reacts to 23XI Racing’s demand for a temporary restraining order

Had the Court sanctioned 23XI Racing a temporary restraining order, just as they requested, two things would have happened. One, NASCAR would not be able to sell off the 23XI Racing charters, and two, 23XI Racing would have the leeway to continue racing as chartered teams for the remainder of the season. But that didn’t happen.

NASCAR argued that 23XI Racing never owned those three charters, as they never signed the contract agreement in the first place. So these charters aren’t something that 23XI can get back.

That being said, an official statement from U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell read,

“NASCAR has agreed that it 'will not sell any charters before the court can rule on plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction. Similarly, plaintiffs worry that denying them guaranteed entry into the field for upcoming races could adversely impact their competitive standing, including their ability to earn a spot in the playoffs.” “NASCAR represents to the court that all of plaintiffs' cars will qualify (if they choose to race) for the races in Dover and Indianapolis that will take place during the next 14 days.”

All eyes are now on Dover Motor Speedway, which will host the NASCAR Cup Series AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400. Scheduled for Sunday, July 20, the 400-lap event will be televised on TNT Sports (2 pm ET onwards), with live radio updates on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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Edited by Anisha Chatterjee