The third day of the NASCAR antitrust lawsuit wrapped up Wednesday. Witnesses called to the stand during the day were Scott Prime, NASCAR’s EVP & Chief Strategy Officer, and Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins. Prime completed testimony that began Tuesday.
The third day of the “23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports v. NASCAR” antitrust trial ended Wednesday with one of the plaintiffs, Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins, on the witness stand.
Jenkins is a former manufacturing plant manager from eastern Tennessee who assembled a portfolio of fast-food franchises that includes approximately 400 Taco Bells, 30 KFCs and 50 Long John Silver’s.
In 2011, Jenkins and a group of investors acquired Long John Silver’s in its entirety. Ownership now resides with Jenkins’ four children.
Jenkins also operates a regional trucking company and a warehousing enterprise in addition to his ownership of Front Row Motorsports.
In 19 years of full-time NASCAR racing, Front Row has never turned a profit, Jenkins said in his direct testimony under questioning from plaintiffs’ attorney Danielle Williams of Winston & Strawn LLP.
Nevertheless, the Front Row owner loves the sport. He was a charter member of the Dale Earnhardt fan club who vowed one day to own a race team.
“One of these days, I’m going own one of those things,” Jenkins testified he had said while watching a NASCAR race. “My wife said, ‘We don’t even own our own car yet,’” Jenkins added, eliciting laughter throughout Judge Kenneth D. Bell’s courtroom in the Western District of North Carolina courthouse.
Jenkins was party to the NASCAR Cup Series’ 2016 charter agreement, and he signed the renewal in 2020 that carried the agreement though 2024 even though he said he viewed the contract to be anti-competitive. But Jenkins joined 23XI in declining to sign the 2025 charter agreement and in filing the antitrust action against NASCAR, claiming $145 million in damages (to Front Row) under the 2016 agreement.
Asked why he signed the 2016 agreement, Jenkins testified he thought it was a step in the right direction.
“I was in favor of a charter system,” Jenkins said. “I think it helps owners, drivers and fans and gives us some stability.”
Under cross examination by NASCAR outside counsel Lawrence E. Buterman of Latham & Watkins LLP, Jenkins made a distinction between the charter system and the charter agreement, claiming he was damaged by exclusivity provisions governing race teams and race tracks and rising cost of parts and pieces necessary to build race cars to NASCAR’s specifications.
“The charter system is an absolute win for the teams and the sport,” Jenkins said. “The charter agreement is not.”
But Jenkins said he had never asked NASCAR for an exception to race elsewhere and had received every penny due from NASCAR under the 2016 agreement.
“This is not about bashing the France family (NASCAR principals),” Jenkins testified. “I admire their entrepreneurial spirit. They’ve done a lot of great things over the years, but this charter agreement is not one of them.”
Under cross-examination, Jenkins acknowledged that the charter agreement had provided one aspect he considered extremely important—guaranteeing chartered teams starting positions in all 36 Cup Series races and limiting the number of open teams allowed to compete for prize money.
Jenkins also confirmed he had sold and leased charters under the 2016 agreement and realized $12.5 million from those activities.
With the advent of the Gen-7 car in the Cup Series in 2022, Jenkins said his average cost for parts grew from $1.8 million to $4.7 million. He also testified that his sponsorship revenues grew from more than $3.5 million in 2016 to nearly $9 million in 2023.
Buterman, who will continue his cross-examination on Thursday, also questioned Jenkins’ commitment to making Front Row as profitable as possible, noting that Jenkins had given sponsorship free of charge to Long John Silver’s for five races (including the Daytona 500) when the team failed to sell sponsorship elsewhere.
Jenkins’ appearance on the stand followed the completion of the direct examination, cross and re-direct of NASCAR executive vice president of global strategy Scott Prime, with plaintiffs’ lead counsel Jeffrey Kessler trying to establish that NASCAR had acted in an anti-competitive manner and defense counsel Anna Rathbun eliciting testimony that NASCAR had acted prudently in planning for contingencies if teams declined to sign the 2025 charter agreement.
Thirteen of 15 Cup Series teams signed the 2025 agreement. Front Row and 23XI were the only two that did not.
— NASCAR Wire Service–
Prime originally worked for consulting firm McKinsey, during which he prepared a 2014 report expressing “concerns over the longevity of the sport” if NASCAR did not take steps to improve the health of its race teams.
…
Kessler noted how despite the charter system’s existence, teams are hamstrung by a weak negotiating position and stuck in unfavorable terms when it comes to renewing charters because they have nowhere else to go.
Kessler cited a 2019 letter from one team that asked for a better business model with more sustainable revenues to aid in teams’ viability, which Prime acknowledged resulted in no changes to new charter agreements in 2020.
“We presented the offer and they accepted it,” Prime said.
“You’re a monopoly!” Kessler said. “There’s no place else to compete. There was no place else for them to go, correct?”
“NASCAR is the premier stock car racing series today, yes,” Prime said.
— The Athletic —
The court is in recess until tomorrow morning. Bob Jenkins is still on the stand.
It was revealed that Front Row is worth $60.9 million. He continued to say the team has not made money in any year.
— Kelly Crandall (@KellyCrandall) December 3, 2025
Bob Jenkins did clarify during his testimony that he believes a charter system is good for the sport but the charter agreement is not.
— Kelly Crandall (@KellyCrandall) December 3, 2025
Some Front Row financial info:
-Matt Tifft contract was for him to pay $2.1M for Cup ride plus $500K to Lakeway Christian Schools (which Jenkins founded), deal never completed after Tifft medical issues
-Chandler Smith paid $1.5M for truck ride
-Ford paid team $1.175M in 2025— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) December 3, 2025
Court is concluded for the day. NASCAR took many shots at Bob Jenkins and it didn’t seem to go well at all. The jury appeared to dislike the line of questioning and Jenkins came off as a sympathetic figure imo.
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) December 3, 2025
The trial continues on Thursday.
For more information and details, see this list of media members covering the trail from court. Reddit also has a daily mega-thread for developments.
For previous posts and information, see the 2024 Antitrust Lawsuit page.