NASCAR team executives reveal if more teams could join lawsuit alongside 23XI, Front Row

As of now, the plaintiffs in the antitrust lawsuit filed in federal court in North Carolina against NASCAR and CEO Jim France are 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.

The lawsuit, which stems from 23XI and Front Row opting not to sign NASCAR’s final charter proposal at Atlanta Motor Speedway last month, accuses France and NASCAR of “unlawful monopolization of premier stock car racing in order to enrich themselves at the expense of the premier stock car racing teams.” The remaining 13 Cup Series teams signed the charter agreement but could any one of them join the lawsuit alongside 23XI and Front Row?

Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic spoke with several team owners to find the answer.

“I don’t think so,” one team executive said. “Even though it wasn’t a great deal, we took the deal because it is getting us more revenue. They all can duke it out, we’ll just focus on us.”

Instead, teams will be grabbing their popcorn and watching it all unfold in court.

“I’ve been waiting on this,” one team owner said. “This is going to be wild.”

Teams have been negotiating an extension of the original 2016 charter agreement for the last two years ahead of its expiration on Dec. 31. Teams made demands such as making charters permanent, which NASCAR refused to include in its proposals.

The final proposal came in at 6 p.m. ET on Friday, Sept. 6. NASCAR gave teams a six-hour deadline to sign, threatening to “eliminate the charter system altogether for 2025 and beyond” if they did not.

Jeffrey Kessler rips ‘egregiously anti-competitive’ NASCAR in lawsuit comments

“The take-it-or-leave-it offer from NASCAR included numerous one-sided, monopolistic economic terms that were far less than the teams would receive in a competitive market,” the lawsuit states. “It did not provide a fair split of revenues so that the teams would have a chance to earn a reasonable return on their investment. It seized control over team intellectual property rights, to be used for NASCAR’s benefit.

“Did not provide permanent charters so that the teams could realize value through permanent charter appreciation. It did not give teams the ability to resist unilateral NASCAR rules that increased team costs. And it did not give the teams any meaningful role in governance of the sport. It also imposed terms that would undermine the relationship between teams and drivers.”

Jeffrey Kessler, the attorney formally retained by 23XI and Front Row, further explained how NASCAR has implemented an “egregiously anti-competitive” system.

“There has never been a case I have found that is as egregiously anti-competitive as this one,” Kessler said Wednesday. “We have a sport where one family has used its power to create an absolute monopoly for the benefit of that family, as opposed to being for the benefit of the teams, the drivers, the sponsors, the broadcasters, the fans.”