23XI Racing, Front Row accuse NASCAR of using ‘overblown rhetoric and hyperbole’ in fiery appeal brief

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are biting back. The teams are embroiled in a highly-publicized dispute with NASCAR, and they responded to their appeal of the duo’s preliminary injunction with a spirited statement.

Some of the words the teams decided to use to describe NASCAR’s appeal cut deep, as 23XI and FRM accused the sport’s governing body of using “overblown rhetoric and hyperbole.” Additionally, they claimed the argument against the injunction the teams received is “meritless.”

“In their opening brief, defendants use overblown rhetoric and hyperbole to attack the district court’s reasoning,” 23XI and FRM stated in their response, part of their reply to NASCAR’s appeal brief. “They assert that the judge did not understand antitrust law and abused his discretion. But the ‘errors’ defendants identify are not errors at all.

“The district court applied well-established precedent to the extensive fact and expert record, properly exercising its discretion to grant a narrowly tailored preliminary injunction that protects the rights of all parties and the public until trial. Each of defendants’ arguments against this narrow injunction is meritless.”

All told, there’s bound to be more passionate responses from both sides in the coming months. The legal battle between NASCAR and the tandem of 23XI and FRM has already taken a ton of twists and turns, and it’s all playing out with the motorsports world watching closely, in front of the backdrop of the 2025 Cup Series season, as well.

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Moreover, the response comes after NASCAR filed a countersuit against 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports and 23XI co-owner Curtis Polk last Wednesday, alleging a conspiracy and agreement in unreasonable restraint of interstate trade and commerce, constituting a violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. In the 30-page court filing, NASCAR claimed all three “willfully violated the antitrust laws by orchestrating anticompetitive collective conduct.”

NASCAR in the suit called the teams an “illegal cartel,” alleging that they, led by Polk — Michael Jordan‘s longtime business partner — “agreed to a scheme to pressure NASCAR to accept their collusive terms, including by engaging in media campaigns, interfering with NASCAR’s broadcast agreement negotiations, threatening boycotts of NASCAR events and engaging in a group boycott of a NASCAR Team Owner Council Meeting.”

“It is truly ironic that in trying to blow-up the Charter system, 23XI and FRM have sought to weaponize the antitrust laws to achieve their goals,” the claim read. “That is because the undisputed reality is that it is 23XI and FRM, led by 23XI’s owner and sports agent Curtis Polk (23XI, FRM, and Curtis Polk collectively, “Counterclaim Defendants”), who willfully violated the antitrust laws by orchestrating anticompetitive collective conduct in connection with the terms of the 2025 Charter Agreements.”

— On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this article.