Filing Seeks Expedited Discovery as the Next Step in the Racing Teams’ Legal Fight Against NASCAR and its Anti-Competitive Practices
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed a preliminary injunction in their antitrust case against the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) seeking to immediately enable the teams to continue racing in 2025 as chartered teams while the case moves through the legal process.
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In a joint statement, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports said, “The 23XI and Front Row Motorsports teams are fully committed to competing in next year’s Cup Series. Today’s procedural filing is the next step in advancing our case against NASCAR and their monopolistic practices, while protecting our drivers, race teams, and sponsors by establishing our legal right to run in 2025.”
The teams also filed a motion for expedited discovery, asking the court to give the teams’ legal counsel immediate access to documents and files from NASCAR executives Jim France, Lesa France Kennedy, Ben Kennedy, Steve O’Donnell, Steve Phelps, and Scott Prime. Key components of discovery that 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are seeking include:
- Documents discussing the mandatory release provision in the 2025 charter agreement;
- Documents discussing NASCAR’s decision to end negotiating with the Team Negotiating Committee and only negotiate with individual racing teams for the 2025 charter agreement; and
- Documents discussing NASCAR’s decision to present to the teams a take-it-or-leave-it final proposal for the 2025 charter agreement.
“NASCAR’s dominant control over racing is not because of its superior skill or business acumen, but rather its history of exclusionary acts and restrictive agreements that have stifled competition through its monopoly power. We believe our expedited discovery requests of NASCAR and the France family will shed light on their anticompetitive practices and support a preliminary injunction ruling that 23XI and Front Row Motorsports have a legally protected right to race next year while our antitrust case proceeds in Court,” said Jeffrey Kessler, Winston & Strawn LLP Partner and Co-Executive Chairman, and lead counsel for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
The expedited discovery motion also seeks documents and files surrounding NASCAR’s exclusive or restrictive contracts with independently owned racetracks that have hosted Cup Series races since 2016, NASCAR’s acquisitions of the International Speedway Corporation (ISC) and Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), and the charter agreement provisions that restrict teams from competing in non-NASCAR events and from using Next Gen parts and cars in non-NASCAR events.
Procedural motions follow 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports jointly filing an antitrust lawsuit in the Western District of North Carolina on October 2, 2024, against NASCAR and its CEO Jim France.
About 23XI Racing
23XI Racing – pronounced twenty-three eleven – was founded by NBA legend Michael Jordan, and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin in 2020. With rising NASCAR star Bubba Wallace selected to drive the No. 23 Toyota Camry, the team made its NASCAR Cup Series debut in the 2021 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Wallace made history on October 4, 2021, when he captured his first career Cup Series win, becoming just the second African American to win in the Cup Series, and earning 23XI its first-ever victory. 23XI expanded to a two-car organization in 2022 with Cup Series Champion Kurt Busch driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry. With a win at Kansas Speedway in May of 2022, Busch earned 23XI the team’s first-ever playoff berth. 23XI currently features the lineup of Bubba Wallace in the No. 23 Toyota Camry and Tyler Reddick in the No. 45 Toyota Camry. In 2023, both Wallace and Reddick earned spots in the NASCAR Playoffs. The team operates out of Airspeed, a state-of-the-art facility in Huntersville, N.C. that opened in January of 2024.
About Front Row Motorsports
Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization in the NASCAR Cup and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The team is the 2021 Daytona 500 and 2022 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champions. The team was founded in 2004 and is owned by successful entrepreneur, Bob Jenkins. FRM fields the No. 34 and the No. 38 NASCAR Cup Series teams along with the No. 38 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series team from its Mooresville, N.C. headquarters.
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