NASCAR attorney: Race Team Alliance ‘acted as a cartel’ in charter negotiations

Wednesday afternoon, NASCAR, 23XI Racing, and Front Row Motorsports were in court for a hearing regarding two motions. One of the motions under consideration is a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against the sanctioning body. The other is to make the teams post a bond for the 2025 season.

The motion to dismiss is obvious, NASCAR wants the court to throw the lawsuit out entirely. However, that is unlikely to happen with a trial date and timeline being set. As for the bond, that would be money set aside by 23XI and Front Row from what they earn as chartered teams this year, in the event NASCAR wins the lawsuit and is owed that money back.

Right now, Judge Kenneth Bell is still making a decision. He would not grant or deny either motion immediately following the hearing. Both sides made their arguments and it even got a bit heated.

Matt Weaver of Sportsnaut was in the courtroom for the hearing. He reported on what the NASCAR attorneys and team attorneys said in part. One line from attorney Chris Yates stood out in particular.

Arguing that NASCAR never wanted the charter system to begin with, Yates called out the Race Team Alliance (RTA) as a “cartel.” The RTA is made up of all charter-owning organizations in the Cup Series. Essentially, it is a collective bargaining unit for the teams in negotiations, such as the charter agreement, with the sport.

“If there was any anticompetitive behavior, it came from the RTA,” Yates said, via Weaver. “They acted as a cartel. They said, ‘We will only do this if you give us these terms.’ That’s unlawful.”

Those are hash words from the NASCAR attorney.

Judge decides to delay decision on motions in NASCAR lawsuit

Instead of answering the same day, Judge Kenneth Bell is weighing the arguments made by both sides carefully. Teams will have to meet tomorrow’s disclosure deadline, which isn’t necessarily related to these motions, but it is the next step in the lawsuit.

There is good news for 23XI Racing and Front Row, though. At least when it comes to the motion to dismiss, Judge Bell appears to be indicating that he will not grant that motion. After all, he set the date for trial for 12/1/2025 and said that date will hold firm barring a settlement of some kind in the case.

Of course, NASCAR has a chance to send this to an appeals court. They already have an appeal regarding the preliminary injunction that Judge Bell granted to the teams. That injunction allowed the teams to be recognized as chartered organizations and also allowed them to purchase charters from Stewart-Haas Racing.

NASCAR wants this lawsuit to go away. Right now, 23XI and Front Row appear set on taking this to court. Discovery will begin soon and that could end up being the thing that makes NASCAR come to the table to negotiate with the teams again.