Team owner compares NASCAR to ‘communist regime’ over charter deal

There has been a lot of talk about the charter agreement in the last few days. NASCAR team owners aren’t holding back, at least anonymously. One team owner took it to another level with their comments the other day.

Over the weekend in Atlanta, there were a lot of comments going around, both anonymous and named. Someone said that NASCAR “coerced and threatened” teams to sign the charter agreement with only hours to read a 105-page document.

Then others like Brad Keselowski came out and said that wasn’t the case. It was just time to come together and get the deal done.

According to Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic, other owners felt NASCAR had put them over a barrel. And worse.

“So, 13 of the 15 team owners, not thrilled but they fall in line,” Gluck explained on The Teardown. “We have posted a story on The Athletic with a bunch of quotes from various team owners, most of whom did not want to be identified out of fear of retribution. It’s been compared to, ‘putting a gun to our head,’ one [team owner] said. ‘Communist regime.'”

Bianchi chimed in and confirmed that is what one team owner said.

“A team owner did compare NASCAR to a communist regime, correct.”

So, that gives you an idea on how teams felt about NASCAR’s self-imposed deadline. At the moment, 23XI Racing still has their charters, so it appears to have been a bluff. Still, this is not going to end any time soon. We could have a legal battle unfold because of this.

NASCAR, 23XI Racing could be headed for court

While Front Row Motorsports joined 23XI Racing in holding out on the charter agreement, it appears that 23XI is the more aggressive of the two parties. In fact, Curtis Polk was at the track this weekend and had very interesting comments about the sanctioning body.

With only two teams holding out, there isn’t much leverage at this point. Really, the only thing that 23XI could do is throw a Hail Mary. Take this to court and make it an antitrust lawsuit. Michael Jordan has the money to go toe-to-toe with NASCAR, but is it worth it to him?

Both NASCAR and 23XI are staring each other in the eye and waiting to see who blinks first. Right now, Jordan and his group are squinting their eyes, but they haven’t blinked quite yet. Jim France probably feels good about his position in this situation.

Will NASCAR be willing to show their business records in court? Discovery can bring out a lot of things that executives of a privately owned company don’t want out there. Does 23XI have standing to make a case? We could find out.