UPDATE 5 (7-17-2025): Citing “no logical basis” for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to be granted a temporary restraining order to compete as chartered teams, NASCAR issued a forceful response in court documents Wednesday.
NASCAR also alleged in court documents that the two teams “manufactured evidence of harm” when requesting a previous preliminary injunction.
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Sunday’s race at Dover Motor Speedway would be the first time 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports would compete without charter status, pending the U.S. District Court’s ruling. No timetable has been set for the court’s decision, although it is expected before Sunday’s race.
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NASCAR stated in court documents that there will be no more than 40 cars entered next week at Indianapolis. That would mean that all three 23XI Racing and all three Front Row Motorsports cars would not be in jeopardy of missing that race should the court not grant their request to run with the charter status.
— NBC Sports —
UPDATE 4 (7-14-2025): 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed documents in U.S. District Court Monday seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to maintain their charter status days before they are are scheduled to lose it.
The teams, in court documents, state losing their charter status would cause “irreparable harm” and that NASCAR has “signaled its intention to immediately move or sell (their) charters to other entities — putting (23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports) in irreparable jeopardy of never getting their charters back and going out of business.”
— NBC Sports —
AND: NASCAR’s statement on the filing: “It is unfortunate that instead of respecting the clear rulings of the Fourth Circuit, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are now burdening the District Court with a third motion for another unnecessary and inappropriate preliminary injunction. As both the Fourth Circuit and the District Court suggested, NASCAR has made multiple requests to 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to present a proposal to resolve this litigation. We have yet to receive a proposal from 23XI or Front Row, as they have instead preferred to continue their damaging and distracting lawsuit. We will defend NASCAR’s integrity from this baseless lawsuit forced upon the sport that threatens to divide the stakeholders committed to serving race fans everywhere. We remain focused on collaborating with the 13 race teams that signed the 2025 charter agreements and share our mutual goal of delivering the best racing in the world each week, including this weekend in Dover.”
AND: The teams’ statement: “Today we filed a motion in the district court for a renewed preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order to protect the teams’ ability to race chartered for the remainder of the 2025 Cup Series season and prevent irreparable business harm to 23XI and Front Row Motorsports until we can present our case at trial in December. New information surfaced through the discovery process that overwhelmingly supports our position that a preliminary injunction is legally warranted and necessary. The teams’ love of stock car racing and belief in a better future for the sport for all parties – teams, drivers, employees, sponsors, and fans – continues to motivate their efforts to pursue this antitrust case.”
UPDATE 3 (7/9/2025): The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit denied the request of 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports for a rehearing on the reversal of the injunction that has forced NASCAR to recognize their three-car organizations as chartered teams.
The injunction expires seven days (July 16) from this decision, meaning that the teams could lose their chartered status starting with the July 19-20 race weekend at Dover.
— Fox Sports —
UPDATE 2 (6-25-2025): As largely telegraphed, Judge Kenneth D. Bell of the Western District of North Carolina has ruled that Cup Series teams not party to the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports v. NASCAR antitrust lawsuit need only to turn over a narrow set of financial documents as part of the fact discovery process.
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After hearing oral arguments on Tuesday, Judge Bell ruled in favor of the non-party teams who had offered a compromise solution comprised under the following terms:
- Each team would separately provide its annual top-line financial data (total revenue, total costs, and net profits/losses) on an anonymized, average per-car basis for each year dating to 2014.
- The financial information would be limited to operations associated with fielding full-time cars in the Cup Series (i.e., not revenue or expenses tied to ancillary business lines like engine programs or non-Cup Series racing activities).
- The average per-car information from each team would be provided by the teams to an acceptable neutral accountant, who would produce to NASCAR’s trial counsel one spreadsheet displaying the per-car annual averages for each team but without identifying the team associated with each set of numbers.
This is more or less what Judge Bell ruled those teams to provide in his Wednesday order.
See more at Sporting News.
UPDATE 6-24-2025: Attorneys for 12 of NASCAR’s 15 race teams argued in federal court Tuesday that disclosing their financial records to the stock car series would be “catastrophic” to competitive balance and warned that making such details public would put them all in danger.
The hearing was over a discovery dispute between NASCAR and the teams that are not parties in the ongoing antitrust suit filed by 23XI Racing, which is owned by retired NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports, owned by entrepreneur Bob Jenkins.
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U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell of the Western District of North Carolina promised a quick ruling but, just like last week, seemed exasperated at the lengths being taken in this brawl that for now is heading toward a December trial.
“I am amazed at the effort going into burning this house down over everybody’s heads,” Bell said at the end of the nearly two-hour hearing. “But I’m the fire marshal and I will be here in December if need be.”
Attorneys for the teams say their financial records are private and there is no guarantee the information won’t be leaked; in a hearing last week, information learned in discovery was disclosed in open court.
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Attorneys for the 12 teams also noted that their clients are extremely uncomfortable to be dragged into the suit.
“This is the opposite of what they want — all the teams are torn to pieces that NASCAR wants them to disclose this information and they don’t want to upset NASCAR,” Ross said.
— Associated Press —
ORIGINAL POST 6-23-2024: There have been two key developments in the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports v. NASCAR lawsuit and countersuit on Monday.
The judge overseeing the case in the Western District of North Carolina has denied the two teams’ motion to dismiss the countersuit, even though it disagreed with key elements of the counterclaim. The 13 Cup Series teams that are not party to the lawsuit will be in court on Tuesday to fight subpoenas from both litigants seeking specific financial documents as part of fact discovery and issued filings in support of their combined argument.
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As for the teams fighting the subpoenas.
Kaulig Racing has come to an agreement with NASCAR over what financial documents it will share as part of fact discovery, but the remaining 11 teams have still not reached a formal agreement yet, although all parties have exchanged emails and/or met in person on the matter.
The other 11 teams say NASCAR has not been specific enough for their legal likings, according to their … filing,
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The teams also just do not believe NASCAR has met the burden of proof to obtain individualized financial documents on a need to know legal basis.
See more at Sporting News.