The 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports v NASCAR antitrust trial is raging on as the two sides do battle inside a North Carolina courtroom with the future of the sport likely to be reshaped by the outcome.
Here, you can find a recap of some of the most important and interesting moments from each day of the trial, with links back to more in-depth stories from our Senior NASCAR Editor Matt Weaver, who is inside the room as the trial unfolds.
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Day 4 — NASCAR’s Steve O’Donnell and the ‘threat’ of SRX,
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SRX’s threat to NASCAR takes center stage in antitrust trial
The now defunct Superstar Racing Experience Series was at the heart of Day 4’s courtroom battle. In previously unsealed messages, NASCAR leadership made it clear that they saw SRX as a threat and took issue with their drivers/team owners taking part in the weekly series run by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart.
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Team attorney Jeffrey Kessler tried to drive home the point that NASCAR reacted in a clear way to stifle SRX, which could be critical in how this case goes in the end. It could answer in part if NASCAR is using its position as a monopoly in the premier Stock Car racing space to harm competition or those operating in the space, like the teams.
NASCAR president Steve O’Donell was questioned by Kessler about the previously unsealed messages and NASCAR’s issue with SRX. While the Sanctioning Body was praised for returning beloved short tracks Bowman Gray and North Wilkesboro to the schedule, the trial has revealed that was at least partially motivated by the fact that SRX could beat them there. They also prevented Speedway Motorsports from hosting SRX events.
O’Donnell said NASCAR was in the middle negotiating a new broadcast rights agreement ‘and SRX started to look like NASCAR, so we said no.’ He added that ‘ NASCAR wanted to gain as much TV revenue for the teams and tracks as possible,” and that they were concerned SRX could hinder those efforts. They were frustrated that the drivers and teams didn’t appear to be ‘all in’ on NASCAR by their choice to compete in SRX.
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O’Donnell was asked why he wanted NASCAR’s legal team to look at SRX, and he claimed it was simply IP infringement concerns. The existence of LIV Golf and how it challenged the hegemony of the PGA Tour, clearly rattled NASCAR leadership as they saw the possibility of something similar happening in stock car racing.
During one 2022 meeting, Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports asked Ben Kennedy, the great grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France and nephew to Jim, if “the family was open to a new financial model” to help the teams. Kennedy had told him ‘yes,’ but when Kessler asked O’Donnell if that was actually true, he said ‘no.
In February of 2023, O’Donnell said in an hand-written note: “I was hoping the future board would include the next generation and was hoping to see that change.” Jim France is 81, and O’Donnell believed the ‘legacy mindset’ in the NASCAR Board ‘inhibited growth.’
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“Mr. France was the brick wall in the negotiations,” Kessler suggested to O’Donnell, when referring to those 2023 messages.
“Those are your words, not mine,” replied O’Donnell.
On Thursday, O’Donnell also revealed that NASCAR lost $55 million in running the Chicago Street Course for three years. However, NASCAR still says it was worth it, as “it was a strategic investment because if not for that, Amazon would not have become a broadcast partner.” NASCAR also said they lost $6 million by racing in Mexico City this year, but did so because it was important to Amazon, who kicked in an addition $1 million in race purse.
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The day also included some more testimony from FRM team owner Bob Jenkins, who was cross-examined. Jenkins testified that it costs $20 million per car to race in the Cup Series, but NASCAR attorney Lawrence Buterman produced discovery documents that showed the most FRM ever spent on a Cup car was actually $14 million.
There was also some discussion about the proposed FRM/23XI merger from a few years back, with NASCAR attorneys trying to draw parallels between those failed negotiations and the ones between the teams and the Sanctioning Body over the 2025 Charter Agreement, where a deadline was imposed.
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‘We can’t keep negotiating this forever,” Jenkins wrote in a text and that’s “…why we decided we had to have a deal by 5 p.m.” Jenkins pushed back against what NASCAR’s legal team was trying to do, saying “this is another one of your analogies that doesn’t work.”
There was also some concern at the end of the day that the trial wasn’t moving quick enough, with Judge Bell saying: “I get the impression that this is not moving along the way we all would like it to.” He encouraged both sides to speed it along, and said the jury is being subjected to redundancy ‘and they’re seeing a lot of trees and not a lot of forest.’ Both sides are cutting witnesses to speed it up, but Roger Penske is only available on Monday, and while that timeline is unlikely to work out, Judge Bell said Penske needs to be present whenever he’s needed.
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Day 3 — Prime faces more questions, FRM owner Bob Jenkins takes the stand
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NASCAR’s Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer Scott Prime was being cross-examined for the second day in a row. The exchanges between prime and team attorney Jeffrey Kessler was sometimes contentious, with the attorney even apologizing to Prime and the court for raising his voice at one point.
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Kessler locked in on the goodwill provision in the 2025 Charter Agreement, which is basically a clause that prevents team owners from competing in another series or owning one without NASCAR approval. Kessler called it ‘anti-competitive will,’ which drew an objection from the NASCAR side. He also focused on the Next Gen car, trying to paint its intellectual property restrictions (as the parts are supplied by a third party) as a tool utilized to restrain trade and prevent competition.
Reacting to an email from NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps where he took a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude, Kessler said: “Only a monopolist has the power to say, ‘Take my offer and if you don’t take it, you will no longer be in this business, and someone else will take your place.’”
He was also questioned about NASCAR’s exclusivity agreement with tracks, but Prime tried to say that a rival series could race at other short tracks or street courses all around the country. Kessler did not accept that, and pushed back.
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Kessler also took time to focus on the The Amanda (Oliver) Chart, which reflected a series of 22 asks made by the race teams and showed only a single ‘win’ for the teams as they negotiated with NASCAR. Prime had previously NASCAR’s September 6 a ‘gun to the head’ offer and Kessler seized on that moment in questioning him. One of the asks was for permanent charters, but NASCAR CEO Jim France was unwilling to go that route, despite Prime doing some work behind the scenes to make that happen.
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After Prime’s lengthy testimony concluded, Bob Jenkins took the stand. He is the owner of Front Row Motorsports — the only team that stood with 23XI against NASCAR as the other 13 chartered organizations signed the eleventh hour agreement last September.
Jenkins noted that he loses $6.8 million per year and has never turned a profit under the race team banner. He doesn’t take a salary either. He went on to say that he spends $4.7 million per year on car components under the Next Gen model, and that the number was only $1.8 million under the previous generation of car.
When asked why do it then, Jenkins replied: “That sounds like something my wife would say. I just believe in it. It’s why I feel so strongly about changing this system. There are 150 employees at that race shop who believe in me to make this work.”
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When asked about the September 6 deadline, Jenkins called it ‘insulting’ and ‘backwards’ as he recalled those critical hours. “There was a lot of passion, a lot of emotion, especially from Joe Gibbs, he felt like he had to sign it,” Jenkins said. “Joe Gibbs felt like he let me down by signing. Not a single owner said, ‘I was happy to sign it.’ Not a single one.”
Jenkins was asked how he could sue NASCAR for placing non-compete clauses in their schedule and charter contracts while placing non-compete clauses in his driver contracts. Hamlin faced the same question from NASCAR attorneys earlier in the trial, and the answer was similar, pointing out that drivers have options on who to sign with.
After court proceedings concluded for the day, Judge Bell took issue with NASCAR attorneys for violating his orders.
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Day 2 — Hamlin faces tense cross-examination and NASCAR executive grilled
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The cross examination of Denny Hamlin
What happened in Day 2 of NASCAR’s antitrust trial
Hamlin was grilled by NASCAR attorneys in a somewhat contentious back-and-forth. “We’re not a monopoly like you are,” Hamlin said multiple times while on the stand. Hamlin gave insight into his personal frustrations with France, saying it dates back to the 2022 banquet. “He told me directly the problem in NASCAR is that teams spend too much money,” recalled Hamlin, who says he was very ‘discouraged’ by how differently they viewed the financial landscape of the sport.
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“Cutting is not growth. I can’t cut my costs in half. It’s not realistic,” asserted Hamlin. He verbally sparred with Lawrence Buterman as the attorney tried to poke holes in the claim that the teams were strapped for cash and struggling to make a profit.
We also learned that Hamlin makes $14 million per year with his current contract as a driver for Joe Gibbs Racing. When asked why he makes more than most drivers, Hamlin simply replied: “I am at the top of my game.”
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Scott Prime is not usually front and center, but he was on Tuesday, December 2nd, as NASCAR’s Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer faced uncomfortable questions from Kessler, representing the teams. He was forced to try and explain the internal strife within NASCAR over the charter terms, and the fact that CEO Jim France seemed committed to imposing on teams after shutting down negotiations. There have been numerous unsealed communications that appear to show that France was the roadblock in granting team’s better terms.
Prime was also asked about a possible breakaway series and NASCAR’s efforts to block a potential CART/IRL split in the stock car racing world. He was also questioned about Project Gold Codes, which he described as a ‘contingency plan’ in case multiple charter holding teams boycotted races and/or didn’t sign the charter agreement in time for the 2025 Daytona 500.
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Day 1 – Jury selection, opening statements and Hamlin testimony
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What happened in Day One of the NASCAR Antitrust trial
After jury selection, the trial officially began. Denny Hamlin, the co-owner at 23XI Racing and one of NASCAR’s top drivers, was the first witness to take the stand. However, he was only on the stand for 40 minutes with cross-examination from NASCAR’s legal team yet to commence.
There appeared to be a clear strategy of bringing up the fact that teams frequently compete with NASCAR for sponsorships, as Motorsport.com Senior NASCAR Editor Matt Weaver noted that Hamlin brought it up three times under questioning from his own attorney.
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“First, I have to fend off the series,” Hamlin said. “If a new sponsor want to come in, NASCAR will go after them. I have to fight them. I have to fight other teams for them. I have to fight them for employees.”
Both sides also laid out their arguments to the assembled jury and repeated many of the key points that have been repeated throughout the course of this lawsuit. NASCAR attorney John E. Stephenson framed 23XI/FRM as attacking the charter system and that they only brought up claims of antitrust violations after refusing to sign the new agreement.
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Kessler, representing the teams, prepared the groundwork to prove that there was a clear anti-competitive strategy orchestrated by NASCAR CEO Jim France. He showed eyebrow-raising text messages from NASCAR leadership to support his claims.
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