The Legal Battle Between NASCAR and the Teams: Explosive Revelations in the Hearing
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The tense dispute between NASCAR and two of its teams, who have filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the racing organization, became public on Thursday during a heated hearing. In it, emails and text messages with explicit language were revealed, coming from team owner Michael Jordan and other high-profile plaintiffs. In one of the exchanges, the retired NBA Hall of Famer and co-owner of the 23XI Racing team, used derogatory language about Joe Gibbs Racing and the other 13 teams that signed the new NASCAR charter agreements last September.This statement was sent by Jordan in a text message to Curtis Polk, his business manager and partner at 23XI Racing, along with Denny Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner. Both 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports were the only teams that refused to sign the extensions of the charter agreements, equivalent to franchises in other sports. The teams sued NASCAR, accusing it of being a “bully” and a monopoly, which has led to a series of events that have led both teams to claim that they risk closing if the series sells their charters. The documents first revealed on Thursday contained explosive details. NASCAR is privately owned by the France family, with Jim France, son of founder Bill France Sr., as the current chairman. His granddaughter, Lesa France Kennedy, is the executive vice president and was present in court for the first time since the beginning of the case. Steve Lauletta, president of 23XI, wrote at one point, “Jim dying is probably the answer” for teams to get better conditions in a charter agreement. Hamlin, for his part, expressed: “My contempt for the France family is profound… (but) please, let’s not sabotage our own business.” In a text conversation between Jordan and Polk, presumably about the price of the statutes, Jordan wrote: “I’m not selling, even if they were for sale (redacted). What would we do?”. Polk replied: “!!!This is just a hobby!!!”. Jordan replied: “I can only play so much golf”. In a second exchange, Jordan discussed with Polk the cost of signing a driver whose name is redacted.Teams will regret not joining us.
Michael Jordan
NASCAR also had its own exchange of emails with explicit language between senior executives. Commissioner Steve Phelps wrote in an email that the conversations had not been productive and argued that an initial proposal of statutes offered “zero wins for the teams.” In another message, he wrote that the statutes “must reflect a middle ground or we are dead; they will sign them, but we are (explicit word) moving forward.” Steve O’Donnell, president of NASCAR, also disagreed with an initial version because it would return the NASCAR model to the terms of 1996 with an attitude of “(explicit word) the teams, dictatorship, motor racing, redneck, southern, small sport”, he wrote. Jeffrey Kessler, the lawyer for 23XI and Front Row, argued that NASCAR’s exchanges, as well as contingency plans on how NASCAR could avoid rival competition, demonstrate that NASCAR is monopolizing the stock car racing market. NASCAR has maintained in legal documents that 23XI and Front Row waived any rights they had to six combined charters when they declined to sign the extensions last September. The teams began the season recognized as charter teams, which guarantees 36 charter teams entry into the 40-car field each week. Charter teams also receive a substantially larger percentage of the payments. The order that recognized the six cars as statutory has been revoked and they currently compete as “open” teams. 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick has a clause in his contract that says he can leave if his car is not statutory; Kessler indicated that Reddick and sponsors have notified that 23XI is in breach. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell warned during the hearing that NASCAR’s statute system is at stake, depending on the outcome of the case. Arguments before Bell focused on the teams’ urgent request to restore their status as statutory teams until the end of the season before a trial scheduled for December 1. NASCAR has indicated that it plans to immediately begin selling the charters. Bell asked NASCAR’s attorney that, if there really is a buyer so eager, why couldn’t the series sell one of the four open spots and then figure out how to address it once the case is resolved? NASCAR has maintained that it cannot be forced to do business with teams it doesn’t want to work with. The judge said he would rule on the request next week after the first playoff race of the season. Reddick and Bubba Wallace are in the playoff field for 23IX, and so is Hamlin, who races for JGR. Outside of court, Jordan said he has been open to a settlement, but is willing to see the case go to trial. Kessler warned that if 23XI and Front Row do not recover their charters, they will go bankrupt in 2026.I lost it in a casino. Let’s do it.
Michael Jordan
Jordan went on to say that he feels a good statement was made and that he hopes to “go with fire”.Look, I’ve been a fan of the game for a long time. When we started this whole process, I’ve always said that I want to fight for the betterment of the sport. Although they tried to point out that we’ve made some money, we had a successful business. That’s not the point. The point is that the sport itself needs to continuously change for both the fans and the teams.
Michael Jordan
