Judges indicate they may throw out
order allowing 23XI, Front Row to race as NASCAR chartered teams
[May 10, 2025]
By MIKE BARBER
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A three-judge federal appellate panel indicated
Friday it might overturn an injunction that allows 23XI Racing,
co-owned by retired NBA great Michael Jordan and veteran driver
Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports to race as chartered teams
in NASCAR this season while the two teams sue the stock car series
over alleged antitrust violations.
NASCAR attorney Chris Yates argued the injunction, granted in
December by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell of the Western District
of North Carolina, forced the series into an unwanted relationship
with unwilling partners, and that it harms other teams because they
earn less money.
Yates said the district court broke precedent by granting the
injunction, saying the “release” clause in the charter contracts
forbidding the teams from suing is “common.” He argued, essentially,
that the teams should not have the benefits of the charter system
they are suing to overturn.
Overturning the injunction would leave the two organizations able to
race but without any of the perks of being chartered, including
guaranteed weekly revenue. They would also have to qualify at every
Cup Series event to make the field, which currently has only four
open spots each week; 23XI and Front Row are each running three cars
in Cup this season.
Judges Steven Agee, Paul Niemeyer and Stephanie Thacker, at multiple
points during the 50-minute hearing at the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Fourth District, pushed back on the argument made by plaintiff’s
attorney Jeffrey Kessler, who accused NASCAR of being a monopoly.
“There’s no other place to compete,” Kessler told the judges, later
noting that overturning the injunction would cause tremendous damage
to the two teams, which could lose drivers and sponsors. “It will
cause havoc to overturn this injunction in the middle of the
season.”
The teams filed the antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR on Oct. 2 in
the Western District of North Carolina, arguing that the series
bullied teams into signing new charters that make it difficult to
compete financially. That came after two years of failed
negotiations on new charter agreements, which is NASCAR’s equivalent
of franchise deals.
23XI – co-owned by Jordan, Hamlin and Curtis Polk, a longtime Jordan
business partner – and Front Row Motorsports, were the only two out
of 15 charter-holding teams that refused to sign new agreements in
September.
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NASCAR Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace greets fans before a NASCAR
Cup Series auto race at Talladega Superspeedway, Sunday, April 27,
2025, in Talladega, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
The charters, which teams originally signed before
the 2016 season, have twice been extended. The most recent extension
runs until 2031, matching the current media rights deal. It
guarantees that 36 of the 40 available spots in weekly races will go
to teams holding charters.
The judges expressed agreement with Yates’s argument that the
district court had erred in issuing the injunction allowing the
teams to race, because it mandated they sign the NASCAR charter but
eliminated the contract’s release.
“It seems you want to have your cake and eat it, too,” Niemeyer told
Kessler.
At another point, the judge pointedly told Kessler that if the teams
want to race, they should sign the charter.
Yates contended that forcing an unwanted relationship between NASCAR
and the two teams “harms NASCAR and other racing teams." He said
that more chartered teams would earn more money if not for the
injunction and noted that the two teams are being “given the
benefits of a contract they rejected.”
Kessler argued that even if the district court’s reasoning was
flawed, other evidence should lead the circuit court to uphold the
injunction. Niemayer disagreed.
“The court wanted you to be able to race but without a contract,” he
said.
A trial date is set for December and Agee strongly urged the sides
to meet for mediation — previously ordered by a lower court — to
attempt to resolve the dispute over the injunction.
“It’ll be a very interesting trial,” Agee said with a wry smile.
The prospect of successful mediation seems unlikely. Yates told the
judges: “We’re not going to rewrite the charter.”
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