CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The legal fight between NASCAR and two race teams, one owned by Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, heated up Monday ahead of a critical court hearing as both sides filed new motions over antitrust claims.
NASCAR said in its filing that it plans to issue one of the charters held by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to a team whose name is redacted in the document. It said it would do so ahead of the 2026 season.
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Front Row and 23XI counterclaimed that selling charters will put them out of business. Additionally, the teams say they will suffer irreparable harm because not being chartered will give drivers and sponsors the option to leave; Tyler Reddick of 23XI has such a clause in his contract.
Both sides are due in court Thursday before U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell as 23XI and Front Row seek an injunction to prevent NASCAR from selling the charters until the case has been settled. It is scheduled to go to trial Dec. 1.
A charter is the equivalent of a franchise tag in other sports and having one guarantees an entry a spot in each 40-car field, as well as financial incentives. NASCAR and its teams went through more than two years of bitter negotiations on charter extensions, with the teams fighting to have them made permanent.
When a final offer was presented to the teams last year — days before the playoff-opening race — the deal was a seven-year extension with an additional seven-year option beyond that. NASCAR got 13 organizations to sign, but 23XI and Front Row did not and instead filed the federal antitrust suit.
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The two teams have six entries between them and initially won a temporary injunction to be recognized as chartered as the case heads to trial. That has since been overturned and the teams have appealed, but NASCAR has notified the court it plans to start issuing the six charters to others and wants back the money that 23XI and Front Row were paid when they were recognized as chartered earlier this season.
The playoffs begin Sunday at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. Among the 16 championship contenders are 23XI Racing drivers Reddick and Bubba Wallace, as well as team co-owner Denny Hamlin, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing.
In Monday’s filing, the teams say they have “smoking-gun documents” that show NASCAR wants to force competitors to sign “one-sided” charter deals. The teams also allege NASCAR acted illegally in trying to exclude competition.
The teams also accused NASCAR of “bullying and retaliatory behavior” and said “teams were forced to accept below competitive market prices, and have the same standing as college athletes or UFC athletes who also were forced to accept below market prices.”
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Because the six charters held between 23XI and Front Row have been returned, NASCAR is arguing the teams never really had them, never signed charter agreements and that it has enough interest in them to begin reissuing them. NASCAR also says it cannot be forced to do business with parties it does not want to do business with.
The teams say selling the charters will put them out of business and contend NASCAR has so far done little to disprove the antitrust allegations.
“Much of NASCAR’s opposition is filled with personal attacks on plaintiffs, the racing teams, Curtis Polk and anyone else who has dared to challenge NASCAR’s monopoly,” the teams said. “None of these attacks have anything to do with the merits of plaintiff’s antitrust claims against NASCAR or plaintiff’s pressing need for a preliminary injunction.”
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