I’m pleased to say we have positively settled this matter.
Representing 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports in its antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR, lead attorney Jeffrey Kessler made the announcement to Judge Kenneth D. Bell at 10:03 a.m. in the Potter Courtroom on the second floor of the Western District of North Carolina.
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There was still more work to be done to formalize the end of the trial, however.
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This statement was just verbalized and both parties’ representatives needed to go back to a separate room to type out a written settlement to codify the agreed upon principles. Judge Bell said he would remain on the bench ‘to encourage your progress.’
Day nine of the trial was scheduled to begin at 8:30 but the parties had arrived much earlier. When Judge Bell arrived to the Potter Courtroom, he dismissed the jury and told them he needed to ‘sacrifice an hour of your time to hopefully save several hours more’ of it.
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At the time, there weren’t even monitors in the court room like there had been for every other day of the trial, a signal that neither party was prepared to continue witness examination.
Judge Bell returned from his chamber at 9:58 a.m.
“Do you have everyone you need to continue your examination?”
A lawyer said, ‘let me see if I can wrangle Mr. Kessler,’ to which Bell dryly said, ‘an indispensable man.’
At this point, 23XI co-owners Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin and Curtis Polk emerged from their holding room, quite the sight because the latter would not be allowed in the room if examinations were truly going to continue.
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Polk was a witness that had not testified yet and federal rules prevent his attending the proceedings until he testified. Thus, Judge Bell asked the defendants (NASCAR) if they ‘had objections’ to Polk being in the room.
“We do not, your honor,” said NASCAR attorney Lawrence Buterman, who had started the discovery process by ‘throwing documents’ Polk during a deposition and ended it with handshakes.
Buterman shook hands with Jordan while NASCAR CEO Jim France personal lawyer John E. Stephenson dapped with the NBA legend.
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This is where Kessler appeared and told Judge Bell that he ‘needed a moment to see if we can close the loop’ and ‘get you some news.’ Kessler reappeared and told the Judge the news that the settlement was being drafted.
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By 10:21 a.m., Buterman approached the bench because ‘I have a copy for your honor.’ Bell spent the next five minutes reading over the settlement terms and then called the jury back into the Potter Courtroom at 10:26 a.m.
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“As so happens, an hour turns into two but we indeed saved you a great deal of time. This trial has been settled, meaning, it’s over.”
Bell went on to tell the jury that he recognizes that it could be ‘dissatisfying’ to spend all this time listening to testimony and consuming evidence without the chance to render a decision. However, Judge Bell said, the jury should be proud because they accomplished through their attentiveness what ‘His Honor’ could not accomplish during two days of court overseen settlement mediation.
He told the jury that he recognized they were attentive. ‘You knew the details of this case and I commend you for that.’
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“Thank you for your hard work. Congratulations to both parties and I mean that. I wish we could have done this months ago. … I think this will be great for the entity of NASCAR, the NASCAR industry, the teams, the drivers, and as you have so often said yourselves, ultimately the fans.”
Both parties thanked the judge and court was dismissed. After 14 months, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports v NASCAR ended with a settlement.
The terms
The agreement itself was not immediately publicized but the Associated Press had the provisional details that –
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Teams will now share international revenue for the first time The three-strike veto rule removed from the 2025 agreement is back as a five-strike rule Teams get a third of revenue from Intellectual Property Terms to be renegotiated with each media rights agreement 23XI and FRM has had their charters returned to them
In other words, charters are now franchises that cannot be taken away from teams and are effectively equivalent to stick-and-ball teams. Unlike stick-and-ball teams, however, the teams do not have equity in NASCAR.
The France family will continue to operate NASCAR has it has done every year since its inception in 1948.
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23XI and Front Row secured evergreen charters, which immediately increases enterprise value, to no cost of NASCAR while the Frances do not get put in a position to have to sell tracks or divest of its interests, which could have happened had they lost.
NASCAR has scheduled a call on Thursday with the non-party teams to discuss implementation and ratification of the new agreement, which will need to be signed by all parties.
Immediate aftermath
With 30 minutes of court dismissing, all parties walked out of the Charles R. Jonas Federal Court House together.
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“I’m pleased to say the parties have positively settled this matter in a way that will benefit the industry going forward,” said Kessler on the court house steps.
Buterman was the next to speak.
“One of the key issues here for NASCAR has always been the preservation of the charter system,” Buterman said. “And we are thrilled that through this system we get to preserve the charter system for the teams and stakeholders while at the same time providing NASCAR with the flexibility to run the sport in the best interest of all of the shareholders.”
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And then Jordan.
“I’ve said this from Day 1: Only way this sport is going to grow is we have to find some synergy between the two entities, and I think we’ve gotten to that point,” Jordan said. “Unfortunately, it took 16 months to get here, but I think, level heads got us to this point to where we can actually work together and grow this sport. I’m very proud about that. And I think (France) feels the same.”
France echoed that sentiment.
“We can get back to focusing on what we really love, and that’s racing,” France said. “We spent a lot of time not really focused on that as much as we need to be. So, I feel like we’ve made a very good decision here together and we have a big opportunity to continue growing the sport.”
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Jordan was asked what eventually forced a settlement.
“Level heads,” said Jordan, getting a laugh from everyone on both sides on the steps. “In all honesty, when you get to the finish line sometimes, you have to think, not just about yourself but the sport as a whole.
“I think both parties got to that point and we realized we have an opportunity to do this, so we dove in and actually did it. Unfortunately, it took us this long, but we got there and that’s all that matters.
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Jordan was asked if he felt like all of this was worth it in the end.
“Well, both parties feel like it was worth it,” he said.
At this point, Stephenson was shaking his head, an endorsement from the France side.
“We understand that we had to work together,” Jordan continued. Compromise in every negotiation is one of the toughest things to do. I think we both compromised on our agendas and we both came to the conclusion that this is better for the sport.”
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That was the end of press conference.
Stephenson said ‘let’s go race’ and lead NASCAR attorney Chris Yates said ‘go to Bowman Gray’ and ‘go to Daytona.’ Kessler said ‘everyone show up to the tracks.’
As for Hamlin?
“I feel like everything within this settlement is going to grow this sport and it’s going to be better for everyone, there’s no doubt about.”
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Loose ends
23XI, Front Row attorney Danielle Williams, even after the settlement was announced, still wanted to discuss in the court the source of the Bobby Hillin news and the documents. Judge Bell said they would work on that later.
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