Seventy-six years of control over the world of stock car racing, and two teams are trying to change that. On Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, Jeffery Kessler, the lawyer who represents 23XI Racing (23XI) and Front Row Motorsports (FRM) as the plaintiffs, filed an antitrust lawsuit against the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) and Jim France, who are represented by Chris Yates as the defendants in federal court in Western North Carolina. The teams have claimed against NASCAR that the way they run the sport is a monopoly and unfair to the teams since they do not get a significant chunk of the revenue per year. The two teams therefore did not sign the upcoming charter agreement by the deadline of Friday, Sep. 6, 2024. Charters are basically NASCAR’s version of a franchise like you would see in the National Football League (NFL) or Major League Baseball (MLB). The majority of the revenue per year goes to NASCAR and to the tracks, but a majority of tracks are owned by NASCAR to begin with after they acquired the International Speedway Corporation (ISC) in 2019.
“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, lawyer for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
NASCAR also made their own response in federal court in opposition of the statement made by the teams.
“This lawsuit is not about protecting competition; it’s a bid by plaintiffs to secure more money than they could through arm’s-length negotiations,” NASCAR said to the court.
With both sides stating their case, students voice their own takes on the matter.
“Honestly even though I’m a Hamlin fan, I would say NASCAR in this situation, it’s been a rule since God knows how long but two single car teams, FRM and 23XI decided, oh, you know, we don’t like that, but NASCAR is winning the appeal from what I can tell, … I think NASCAR’s gonna win and 23XI, I don’t know what’s going to happen,” senior Evan Sager said.
With some uncertainty expressed in this case, one student has a different approach to what they think will happen.
“I think Michael Jordan and the teams are in the right, … because it’s like, NASCAR’s the big popular guy, like oh we’re so big we got all the money so we get to do what we want,” junior Mason Morgan said.
Morgan also had a different opinion if the teams do not retain their charters for next year and beyond.
“They’ll get replaced by people that just want the job, that don’t care about the money and then those teams are gonna get absolutely shaken because everybody will be angry that their team just got rid of their favorite driver,” Morgan said.
With constant differences between who is right and wrong in this antitrust lawsuit, it will be interesting to see what happens going forward as 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports were officially denied their request to be granted charters in 2025 on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, just two days before 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick finished 4th in points in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship in Phoenix on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024. The teams appealed the denial of the preliminary injunction to the U.S. Court of Appeals on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, as this legal battle is just getting started with the season wrapping up. Seventy-six years of history versus four years of modernity. We are going to NASCAR overtime.
