NASCAR Responds to Michael Jordan and 23XI Racing’s Lawsuit
In a recent court filing, NASCAR has responded to the antitrust lawsuit filed by 23XI Racing, owned by Michael Jordan, and Front Row Motorsports. The stock car racing series argues that the lawsuit seeks to obtain a permanent charter, a privilege that no other team possesses. NASCAR also indicated in its 34-page response that there are interested buyers for the six charters that have been reserved, pending a federal judge’s decision on whether the two teams can recover them for the remaining 11 races of this season. The organization is prepared to immediately begin the process of assigning the charters to other teams. These arguments are part of the antitrust lawsuit filed by 23XI and Front Row in relation to the charters, which are essentially franchise tags. 23XI, owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, and Front Row, owned by Bob Jenkins, were the only two organizations out of 15 that did not sign extensions to the new charter agreements. The conflict arose during the extension negotiations of more than two years, where all teams fought for the permanence of the charters, something that NASCAR refused, offering an extension until 2031. 23XI and Front Row obtained a temporary injunction to be recognized as charter holders, while the case heads to a trial date on December 1st. The court order was overturned and appealed by the teams. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell will hear arguments on August 28. As “open” teams, 23XI and Front Row do not receive the same financial percentages as chartered teams. NASCAR requested that 23XI and Front Row return all the money they received when they were recognized as chartered teams this season. This money would be redistributed among the 30 current chartered teams. A rule change in July, after the status of a charter was withdrawn from the two organizations, guaranteed that the six cars would not run the risk of failing to qualify for a race; starting positions are guaranteed for the 36 charter cars in each field of 40 cars.23XI and Front Row have stated that they will continue to compete even if they have to do so as open teams. NASCAR argues that, by not signing the extensions, they lost all rights to the charters and the organization should be free to relocate them. NASCAR also argued that a court cannot order a private company to associate with teams with which it is not interested in doing business. Another NASCAR argument is that 23XI and Front Row have not been disadvantaged by not having a charter, as their drivers have not left the team and the change in regulations protects them from missing races. Furthermore, NASCAR pointed out that it pays teams a higher percentage than even Formula 1, and that its team payment structure demonstrates that it is not a monopoly, as it first increased by 28% in the 2016 charter agreement, and then by 62% in the 2025 agreement. NASCAR argued that the teams are ignoring the salary increases they have received, focusing on a text during the negotiations for the 2025 Charter that mentioned “zero victories” for the teams in an internal version of the May 2024 draft. The organization also highlighted that the May 2024 draft proposed the greatest benefit to the teams: a massive salary increase, which was already present in the December 2023 draft. In addition, it offered cardholders the opportunity to obtain any improved extension conditions that NASCAR offered to third parties and increased the ability of teams to receive funding from investors, among other benefits.“Mr. Jordan has said that he wants to use litigation to obtain a permanent charter that no other team has,” NASCAR alleged.
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