Racing America Logo

Live Updates From Lawsuit Between NASCAR, FRM, and Michael Jordan's 23XI

Joseph Srigley, Toby Christie|
Matt Stamey-Imagn Images

After more than a year of legal red tape and several heated back-and-forth arguments between the two opposing sides, the lawsuit brought against the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) in October 2024 (by teams 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports) has made it to trial.

The two opposing sides will spend the better part of the next two weeks in a courtroom in Charlotte, North Carolina, as a jury decides whether NASCAR is using its monopolistic power illegally and damaging the financial stability of teams competing in the NASCAR Cup Series.

In-court sessions will begin Monday, December 1 with jury selection and opening statements, and will last for a total of 10 in-court days spanning the next two weeks – the final day scheduled to be December 12.

The majority of NASCAR’s media members are on-site in Charlotte to hear the details of the trial, and stand witness to what could be an explosive trial. With no electronic devices permitted in the courtroom, updates will come during court breaks.

Racing America on SI will have live updates from the trial as they become available. Our editor-in-chief, Toby Christie, will also be on site.

  1. Jim France Confirms Yearly Compensation, Disdain for Permanent Charters
  2. Richard Childress Feels Teams Were Forced to Sign Charters
  3. Phelps Scrutinized By Kessler
  4. Judge Bell's Warning and Trial Pace
  5. NASCAR President Steve O'Donnell Takes the Stand
  6. Bob Jenkins Asked About Awkward Charter Sale Attempt to 23XI Racing
  7. NASCAR Warned Over Two Procedural Blunders
  8. Front Row Motorsports' Bob Jenkins Takes The Stand
  9. Scott Prime Testimony Continues Into Wednesday Afternoon
  10. NASCAR Executive Prime Grilled By Kessler
  11. Hamlin's Tuesday Testimony Lasts Four Hours
  12. NASCAR Claims Lawsuit Was Plan of Polk, 23XI All Along
  13. Hamlin Emotional in Monday Testimony During NASCAR Antitrust Lawsuit
  14. NASCAR, Teams Present Opening Statements
  15. Hamlin, Polk Barred From Courtroom Until After Testimony
  16. Judge Bell Upset With Opening Statements from Both Sides
  17. Jury Selected for NASCAR v. 23XI/FRM Antitrust Case
  18. Potential Witness List Revealed for NASCAR Antitrust Trial

Jim France Confirms Yearly Compensation, Disdain for Permanent Charters

By: Toby Christie - Tuesday, December 9

NASCAR Chairman was called to the stand on Tuesday afternoon, and underwent scrutiny from Jeffrey Kessler, the lead attorney for 23XI Racing/Front Row Motorsports. During the line of questions, France confirmed he makes $3.5 million per year as NASCAR's Chairman, and while he believes Lesa France Kennedy is also a NASCAR employee, he wasn't sure of her job title or compensation.

France had a slew of items that Kessler brought up that he claimed to not know or remember, including Steve O'Donnell, who said he heard France read Heather Gibbs' letter requesting permanent Charters aloud in a leadership meeting. O'Donnell indicated France was mad while reading the letter.

France said he didn't recall reading the letter out loud, and said he wasn't sure he would do that. And while he said he wasn't saying O'Donnell was lying; he simply didn't recall if it happened.

Kessler was able to get France on the record that his thought that Charters shouldn't be permanent never changed over the two-plus years of negotiations for the 2025 Charter agreement. And while NASCAR has contended that they met the teams in the middle on their biggest ask -- additional broadcast rights revenue -- emails from Rick Hendrick, Roger Penske, Joe Gibbs, and Jack Roush to Jim France showed those owners indicated that permanent charters were their biggest ask.

Richard Childress added on Tuesday that he also wanted permanent Charters more than anything.

Richard Childress Feels Teams Were Forced to Sign Charters

By: Toby Christie - Tuesday, December 9

Richard Childress took the stand on Tuesday, and the legendary team owner brought a powerful testimony, which further strengthened the case of 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports that NASCAR used its power as a monopoly to force teams into signing the 2025 Charter Agreement.

Childress, as Heather Gibbs also testified to last week, says he felt his team was forced into signing the Charter Agreement as NASCAR picked a deadline late in the day on Friday, September 6. Childress said if he was financially in a position to operate his team without a Charter, he wouldn't have signed the agreement.

Childress, who is a franchise owner in PBR, as he owns the Carolina Cowboys, says he feels permanent Charters were the main sticking point, and he feels that it would elevate equity value of the race teams, and would allow the teams to feel like true partners to the sanctioning body.

NASCAR has claimed that 13 teams signing the deal is evidence that they negotiated the Charter Agreement in good faith and that it didn't use its monopoly powers, but Childress and Gibbs have blown holes in that defense with their testimonies.

Another interesting component to the Childress testimony was another violation by NASCAR's legal team. Attorney Christopher Yates was able to get Childress to confirm he owns just 60% of Richard Childress Racing, while Chartwell Investments owns the other 40%.

Yates questioned Richard Childress about who Bobby Hillin Jr. is, to which Childress said a racer. Yates responded, and a good businessman too.

Childress didn't concur that Hillin was a good businessman, but said he was a businessman. Yates, reading from a document that was not made available in discovery, questions Childress on a potential deal with an investment firm involving Hillin. This enraged Childress, who said he had terminated those talks, and that he wasn't sure how Yates obtained the document as it was protected by an NDA.

This resulted in Judge Kenneth Bell telling the plaintiffs and the defendants at the end of the day to resolve this matter accordingly, or the court would do so for them.

Phelps Scrutinized By Kessler

By: Toby Christie - Tuesday, December 9

Steve Phelps, NASCAR's Commissioner, came under fire from Kessler early and often as Kessler began his line of questioning by asking Phelps what his compensation as a NASCAR employee is. Phelps answered $2.5 million per year, with up to $2.5 million in bonuses.

Kessler indicated that was a large raise from Phelps' previous compensation of $1.6 million with up to $3.1 million in bonuses, and he wondered how Phelps acquired the raise despite his responsibilities not changing after being promoted from President to Commissioner.

Phelps explained that he was promoted 18 months before the official announcement of the move, but the board held off on announcing it due to the Broadcast Rights renewal talks and Charter negotiations.

Phelps was pressed on emails that showed NASCAR's hostility toward a failed RTA attempt to race stock cars on dirt tracks, and again SRX a few years later. Phelps claimed to not be able to remember many of the emails through this line of questioning, which led Kessler to ask if Phelps ever read emails from his boss.

While Phelps admitted he was concerned about SRX from day 1, he became increasingly worried when Sam Flood of NBC Sports called NASCAR concerned about confusing the market when Chase Elliott won the SRX event at Nashville Fairgrounds with a NAPA sponsored car.

Kessler also insinuated that NASCAR picked a date, and forced teams to sign their charters as Phelps laid out the plan was in an internal NASCAR executive text thread during the negotiations. Phelps said that was not fair, and Kessler said it would be up to the jury to decide.

Judge Bell's Warning and Trial Pace

By: Joseph Srigley - Thursday, December 4th

At the conclusion of Thursday's in-court time, Judge Kenneth Bell urged both sides of the NASCAR v. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports antitrust lawsuit to pick up the pace a bit, warning that it would not be possible to stretch this trial beyond three full weeks without testing the patience of the jury.

For Judge Bell, the problem areas come from a frequent repeating of exhibits and prolonged questioning over straightforward emails and text messages, while also mentioning that he may up intervening should things continue to drag on in a monotonous way.

Bell also reiterated his dissatisfaction with prior rule violations by NASCAR's attorneys and ruled that Roger Penske, a witness on the witness list for this trial, will have to adjust his schedule in order to testify another day, which will prompt both sides to trim witness lists to shorten the proceedings.

NASCAR President Steve O'Donnell Takes the Stand

By: Joseph Srigley - Thursday, December 4th

NASCAR President Steve O'Donnell faces intense examination from Jeffrey Kessler over internal text messages tied to the Charter Agreement negotiations, including disputed comments about Jim France's reaction to a request for "evergreen" charters from Heather Gibbs, and O'Donnell's own frustrated language about early proposals he felt were harmful to the teams.

Although he often declined or was unable to recall specifics, O'Donnell denied portraying France as a "dictator" and pushed back against allegations surrounding NASCAR's exclusive track sanctioning agreements and the so-called "gold codes" vertical-integration documents, which he said were only contingency plans.

O'Donnell also testified about NASCAR's financial losses from their marquee innovative events over the last couple of years, like the Chicago Street Course and Mexico City event in 2025, defended their value in securing a lucrative television rights deal with Prime Video, disclosed his $1.2 million annual salary, and returned to the stand for further questioning as the day concluded.

Bob Jenkins Asked About Awkward Charter Sale Attempt to 23XI Racing

By: Joseph Srigley - Thursday, December 4th

Front Row Motorsports team owner Bob Jenkins was asked about an attempted sale of a charter/merger with 23XI Racing in 2021. That included an email exchange that showed Jenkins imposed a short negotiation deadline on Denny Hamlin, mirroring the tactics the teams would later criticize NASCAR for using.

In his testimony, Jenkins defended the move as completely necessary due to the manufacturer contract timing and denied any claims from opposing counsels that he acted unfairly or strung Hamlin along, noting that 23XI Racing ended up acquiring another Charter from another team.

Jenkins was also made to address an internal email that he ended negotiations with 23XI Racing and allowed Rick Ware Racing to "charge whatever he wanted," denying that this gave Ware an unfair advantage. Jenkins also clarified financial testimony regarding per-car costs, and explained why he ultimately did not sign NASCAR's 2024 Charter Agreement due to unresolved issues presented in a side letter.

NASCAR Warned Over Two Procedural Blunders

By: Joseph Srigley - Wednesday, December 3rd

As court adjourned for the third day of an intended 10-day antitrust trial brought against NASCAR by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, attorneys for NASCAR have been warned by Judge Kenneth Bell for two violations of evidentiary orders during the cross-examination of Bob Jenkins (owner of Front Row Motorsports) on Wednesday.

The first violation came while reading a text message from Jeff Dickerson that was not supposed to be redacted. The second was an attempt to delve into the financials of Bob Jenkins beyond what had been ruled to be allowed.

Judge Bell was stern in his warning to NASCAR’s attorneys and noted that any additional violations of evidentiary orders during this trial, from either side’s counsel, would come with significant consequences and reprimands.

Front Row Motorsports' Bob Jenkins Takes The Stand

By: Joseph Srigley - Wednesday, December 3rd

After two and a half days of this antitrust lawsuit, most of the focus (on both sides of the lawsuit) have been on 23XI Racing and its team owners. Now, on Wednesday afternoon, we’re finally hearing from the Front Row Motorsports faction of people – who joined forces with the Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned team to bring this lawsuit against NASCAR.

Bob Jenkins, a team owner for the last two decades in the NASCAR Cup Series and a successful businessman in his own right, took the stand on Wednesday, and the first part of his testimony was very numbers heavy – and the numbers didn’t look great.

The restaurant franchise owner says that in the first 10 years of business, Front Row Motorsports (FRM) never made a profit.

“It’s a tough sport. Sure, a couple of teams at the top are having an arms race, but mid-field and back, I don’t know of any team that has any prosperity,” Jenkins said to the court on Wednesday.

Jenkins was part of the original group of owners that obtained charters from NASCAR when the system was founded in 2016, and while the sanctioning body claims that teams were given those charters free of charge, the long-time journeyman team owner says that he had to run two full-time entries for the two seasons before – which he equated to an $8 million cost.

The figurehead for underfunded teams in NASCAR, at least in this case, Jenkins wasn’t afraid to show some emotion in this testimony, saying that he was “insulted” when Scott Prime implied that all the teams are overspending and that’s the problem.

And, while yes, Jenkins was in favor of the charter system – since it would give his team stability and helps fans know that their drivers will be in the race every weekend – it did NOT help Jenkins and Front Row Motorsports turn a profit.

So, why do it all over again in 2024? “I believe in this sport and hope someday charters are fair,” Jenkins said Wednesday. All of that from a man whose business has been losing an average of $6.8 million per year, and 20 years later, despite never making a profit and having some success at NASCAR’s highest level is still here and willing to spend money.

Jenkins was also led to testify about NASCAR’s NextGen car, which he says was originally pitched as a cost-saving measure, but has turned into anything but that. In the four years the car has been in use, costs have gone up from $220k to $350k per car, and needing seven cars for each Chartered Entry, the cost for the cars along comes out to over $2 million a year, alone.

So, was this Charter Agreement fair? Jenkins never technically said yes or no, but says he thought it was a step in the right direction. However, there were things he still didn’t like and was hopeful that would be in the next negotiation, which never came.

Jenkins will continue his testimony in federal court on Wednesday afternoon.

Scott Prime Testimony Continues Into Wednesday Afternoon

By: Joseph Srigley - Wednesday, December 3rd

It's the third day of the NASCAR v. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports antitrust lawsuit and we're still on our second witness -- a pace that will no doubt need to pick up dramatically if this trial is to be heard in the two weeks allotted.

Throughout the entirety of Wednesday morning, Prime was asked questions by Jeffrey Kessler, the lead attorney for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.

As the trial continues to go on, a lot has been made about the negotiating process between NASCAR and teams, whether in a one-on-one manner or through the Committee that was formed to do negotiating on behalf of the teams.

Some of the options that were put on the table by Scott Prime, Executive Vice President of NASCAR, were: declaring the series will drop to 32 charters awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, updating the agreement to reflect what NASCAR wanted and putting down a deadline before offering to other potentially interesting parties, going back to "Open" (no charters for anybody), going to 32 teams and allowing NASCAR to select teams, or Project Gold Codes: A scenario where NASCAR owns all of the cares and hires all of the drivers themselves.

In this process, Prime made a comment that a typical franchise value is typically five-to-six times total revenues, a statement which Prime corrected in court on Wednesday, saying that he didn't think it was true anymore, and had actually increased, and that if charters were made permanent their value could increase to over $100 million,

Amongst other findings, was that NASCAR recieved a letter from RFK Racing and several other organizations urging the sanctioning body to create a sustainable business model, because the current one wasn't, and would like it to be before they had signed the Charter Agreement.

Questions were brought up about NASCAR's "Goodwill" provision, which doesn't allow any owner with at least a 10% stake in a team or that is involved in team owner operations to race in a competing series or own a stake in a competing stock car racing series held in the United States -- a form of a non-compete, which when grilled about, Prime called "narrow".

Later, when NASCAR was looking to make governance changes, the sanctioning body was able to further expand upon that "Goodwill" provision, to the point where the scope increased to include every form of motorsport that NASCAR didn't approve.

Also included in those changes to governance policies, was the elimination of the three strike rule -- which allowed teams to vote no three times to support a proposed change.

So, in the lead-up to the agreement, NASCAR made several concessions, most of which only benefitted the sanctioning body, instead of actually making concessions to benefit the teams.

Scott Prime's testimony will continue into the afternoon hours, as NASCAR's lawyers will have the opportunity to cross-examine.

NASCAR Executive Prime Grilled By Kessler

By: Toby Christie - Tuesday, December 2nd

After Denny Hamlin stepped down from the bench, Jeffrey Kessler, the lead attorney for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, called NASCAR executive Scott Prime to testify. What ensued was three hours of Kessler keeping his foot pressed firmly to the floor until the clock reached 5 PM ET, signaling the end of the day.

Kessler entered into evidence internal NASCAR documents, which show Prime outlining ways for NASCAR to thwart a potential breakaway stock car racing series in America. NASCAR executives issued nervousness over what had taken place with the PGA Tour after LIV Golf was founded, and felt they needed to prevent that from occurring to NASCAR.

Internal emails indicate the fears of a breakaway stock car racing league were further sparked when the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) Series, a mid-week summer stock car racing series, was formed.

One of the options outlined by Prime was for the sanctioning body to strengthen its relationship with Speedway Motorsports, which owns a sizable chunk of tracks on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit.

Following the initial outline, which Prime presented in 2022, NASCAR moved away from one-year sanctioning agreements with Speedway Motorsports in 2023, and instead signed two-year agreements. However, NASCAR also added in an exclusivity clause in the agreements, which Kessler showed was present in the 2023-2024 agreement reached with Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The exclusivity clause extends two years past the sanctioning agreement, which, in theory, would allow NASCAR to squash an attempt by a breakaway stock car series to partner with Speedway Motorsports tracks, even if NASCAR didn't have a technical sanctioning agreement in place in 2025 or 2026.

Kessler also revealed internal NASCAR discussions to the jury during the 2025 Charter negotiations, which began in 2022. In these emails, Prime, and fellow NASCAR executives Steve O'Donnell and Steve Phelps express frustration with Jim France and the NASCAR board, who they indicate they felt should meet the teams in the middle in the negotations.

Instead, Prime testified that NASCAR offered the teams roughly $300 million less than they asked for in Charter revenue per year (teams asked for $722 million per year). NASCAR didn't budge on many other requests from the teams in the negotiations, and also stripped the teams of their intellectual property.

However, Prime did say NASCAR did agree to the teams to not sell the Charters at more favorable terms to future team owners if the current owners refused to sign the Charter agreement, thus forfeiting their Charters.

Before the day ended, Kessler asked Prime if he remembered NASCAR offering less money to teams on the final draft of the Charter agreement than the initial first draft, to which Prime responded he wasn't sure about that. As the day was coming to a close, Kessler warned Prime that he would approach that subject on Wednesday.

Prime is set to continue his testimony on Wednesday, December 3rd at 9 AM ET.

Hamlin's Tuesday Testimony Lasts Four Hours

By: Joseph Srigley - Tuesday, December 2nd

Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing, continued his testimony in federal court on Tuesday morning, with NASCAR getting the opportunity to cross-examine the Chesterfield, Virginia-native for the first time in this case.

Lawrence Buterman, a member of NASCAR’s legal council, led the charge on the cross-examination and notably asked Hamlin about whether the public could trust what he’s saying, considering he’s been quoted using NASCAR talking points in the past.

That seemed to be a major part of NASCAR’s strategy when interrogating Hamlin, referring specifically to an appearance he made on the Kenny Wallace Podcast, where he praised the NextGen car as being great for the sport, and had similar comments about NASCAR’s planned trip to Mexico City in the Summer of 2025.

Hamlin quickly clapped back at NASCAR’s council in a feisty manner, a demeanor that several onlookers say the 44-year-old driver maintained throughout the entire three-plus hour testimony, but what he had to say, was even more interesting.

“Because, if I say anything bad, I get a lashing from NASCAR,” Hamlin said about his positive comments on the Kenny Wallace Podcast. “So, publicly, it’s all sunshine and rainbows. My job is to take the talking points NASCAR says to him [Wallace] and say them publicly. If he says anything bad, he gets a phone call from NASCAR.”

That was just one piece of the wide-spanning testimony that was given on Tuesday by the 60-time race-winner in the NASCAR Cup Series, which included several financial figures, both involving 23XI Racing and himself.

23XI Racing, owned by Hamlin, Curtis Polk, and Michael Jordan, is one of the few NASCAR Cup Series teams that are currently operating in the black, according to financial documents made available prior to the start of the trial. The team, which fields three NASCAR Cup Series entries has a profit margin of 2.26%, but Hamlin maintains that considering the $40 million of sponsorship they bring in, that isn’t substantial, at all.

“I’m one sponsor away,” Hamlin said. “All it takes is one to go away, and all of the profit is gone.”

As the collective losses of NASCAR Cup Series teams increases year-over-year, Hamlin suggests that could partly be due to the new media rights agreement. With sponsors wanting to be seen on television, a move towards streaming and away from network television limits their exposure with a drop in ratings, which makes companies less willing to spend money.

The teams have brought their concerns to NASCAR, and Steve Phelps, the Commissioner of NASCAR, promised a paradigm shift, but nothing like that materialized at all, Hamlin claimed during his testimony.

Hamlin has spent the last two decades making a career for himself in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. However, as his days of being a full-time driver continue to wind down, the 44-year-old is more than aware that his legacy for the next couple of decades likely lies within the walls of Airspeed, explaining that the reason he didn’t sign this Charter Agreement was because “this is his death certificate.”

“It’s time for change,” Hamlin said. “I’ve spent 20 years trying to change this sport and grow it further.”

Hamlin specifically mentions a meeting that he had with Jim France, CEO of NASCAR, in a Nashville hotel, where he left feeling “very discouraged” about the state of negotiations. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver says that France believes the issue lies within the teams overspending, and that he would like it if costs could be cut down to $10 million per entry… a mark which Hamlin thinks is unrealistic, considering it would involve cutting spending in half.

Another part of Tuesday’s testimony included an attempt by the defendants to paint the picture of reckless spending at 23XI Racing under the guise of Denny Hamlin, between a $35 million race shop and an extravagant holiday party in 2021, in which the team spent 17% of their operating budget.

NASCAR Claims Lawsuit Was Plan of Polk, 23XI All Along

Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing NASCAR Lawsuit
Eric Canha-Imagn Images

By: Joseph Srigley - Monday, December 1st

In the first day of the NASCAR v. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports antitrust lawsuit in Charlotte, North Carolina, NASCAR continued to hold firm in the stance they’ve had since the complaint was first filed last October.

John E. Stephenson, Jr. made that clear very quickly when delivering NASCAR’s opening statements on Monday, asking the jury a simple question: “Why are we here?”

READ MORE: NASCAR Claims Lawsuit Was 'Curtis Polk and 23XI's Plan From The Start'

The first of 10 scheduled days of this trial included jury selection (where six jurors and three alternates were selected out of a pool of potential candidates), opening statements were heard from both sides, and the first part of testimony from Denny Hamlin, one of three co-owners of 23XI Racing.

After all of that came to a natural stopping point, around 5:00 pm local time, Judge Bell dismissed both parties and all the interested onlookers, and both went their separate ways without making any comments, whatsoever. About 90 minutes later, though, NASCAR broke its silence and made its stance known following an eight-hour day in court.

However, one of the last talking points or observations from NASCAR’s side on Monday is a bit jarring. Seemingly answering the question posed in their opening statement, the sanctioning body believes that they are here, in this antitrust lawsuit because this was the plan of Curtis Polk and 23XI Racing all along… and that’s the reason why this has all played out to this point.

“It’s important to talk about the truth in this trial, so let’s do that – this lawsuit was Curtis Polk and 23XI Racing’s plan from the start. That’s why we are here today.”

Hamlin Emotional in Monday Testimony During NASCAR Antitrust Lawsuit

By: Toby Christie - Monday, December 1

At the end of the first day of NASCAR's antitrust lawsuit, brought against them by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, Denny Hamlin was called to the stand as the first witness to give testimony in the trial.

In the opening moments of said testimony, which concluded around 5:00 PM ET and will resume when the court's recess lifts at 9:00 AM ET, the 60-time NASCAR Cup Series race-winner showed lots of emotion when the topic came up of how he made it to the NASCAR Cup Series.

As Hamlin relived his time climbing through the lower levels of racing on his path to NASCAR, he was overcome with emotion when thinking of his father, who has undergone struggles with his health recently. After a few moments, Hamlin was able to compose himself and finish out the first part of his testimony, where he explained to the jury who he was and ins and outs of NASCAR and how the Charter System works for NASCAR team owners.

READ MORE: Hamlin Emotional in Testimony on Day 1 of Antitrust Lawsuit Against NASCAR

While the only evidence that had been shown all afternoon came courtesy of three charter sales, where 23XI Racing purchased charters from Germain Racing (2020), StarCom Racing (2021), and Stewart-Haas Racing (2024), things didn't remain entirely civil on Hamlin's side, as he bashed NASCAR for poaching sponsorship from teams.

Other nuggets were revealed throughout the afternoon including that 23XI Racing pays an annual $8 million to Joe Gibbs Racing for a technical alliance which supports the three-car NASCAR Cup Series program.

NASCAR, Teams Present Opening Statements

By: Joseph Srigley - Monday, December 1st

Both sides of this lawsuit were allowed to present their opening statements on Monday afternoon.

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports asserted in their opening statement that the evidence they hold would show that NASCAR engaged in anti-competitive behaviour while negotiating and theorizing the Charter Agreement.

On the other hand, NASCAR says that the teams only brought up the anti-trust charges after the talks had concluded, and that the actions of both 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have signaled that the teams have benefited from the Charter Agreement.

Claire B Lang reports that Judge Bell was quoted telling the six jurors on the panel for this case to keep an open mind when the evidence does start coming in -- throughout two and a half hours of opening remarks, there has been no evidence presented yet.

Hamlin, Polk Barred From Courtroom Until After Testimony

By: Joseph Srigley - Monday, December 1st

Judge Kenneth Bell confirmed on Monday afternoon that both Denny Hamlin and Curtis Polk (co-owners of 23XI Racing alongside Michael Jordan) will not be allowed to be in the courtroom until their testimony has been heard, a decision that Bell says he made “very reluctantly”.

This decision was made in hopes of “only trying this case once”, according to Bell, with NASCAR invoking a rule about having just a single corporate representative for each side (which in this case, is NBA superstar Michael Jordan). The main reason for this, is so that no technicality is brought up that would throw this case sideways in the event of an appeal from the losing party.

Hamlin and Polk will be present for Monday’s opening statements and then will leave the courtroom until their testimonies are heard. No date has been set for those testimonies, yet.

Judge Bell Upset With Opening Statements from Both Sides

By: Joseph Srigley - Monday, December 1st

It did not take long for the sparks to fly in the courtroom in the NASCAR v. 23XI/FRM antitrust lawsuit, but I don’t think anybody expected the frustration to come from the bench. After reviewing opening statements on Monday, Judge Kenneth Bell wasn’t happy with either side.

Bell stated that both opening statements – the one from NASCAR and the one from 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports – featured arguments that were impermissible, and as a result, he has chosen to ban the presentation of exhibits during their statements.

“If we can be less confrontational about it next time, maybe you’ll get to do what you want to do,” Bell was quoted as saying.

Jury Selected for NASCAR v. 23XI/FRM Antitrust Case

By: Joseph Srigley - Monday, December 1

The first step of this antitrust case when both parties arrived at court on Monday was to select the jurors who would ultimately decide on this case. The final panel of jurors included six jury members and three backups.

According to Matt Weaver of Motorsport, the candidate pool was notably asked (among other questions) whether they were familiar with Michael Jordan and if they had any strong opinions about him, one way or the other. Jordan, an NBA Hall of Famer, is a major part of this case as the majority owner of 23XI Racing.

There was one candidate that did, in fact, have some pretty strong feelings about Jordan, and after being dismissed from his duty as a potential juror, made a fist pump gesture at the NASCAR Cup Series team owner, which not only garnered a chuckle from Jorda, but from everybody involved.

Candidates were dismissed for a variety of reasons; including one that worked at Hendrick Automotive Group, one that knew a great deal about NASCAR and all of the parties involved. There was a third juror dismissed because he couldn’t hear the judge and needed to get his hearing aid fixed.

Johnny Stephenson of Alson & Bird is now the arguing attorney for NASCAR, and spent the morning introducing himself to Judge Bell.

Potential Witness List Revealed for NASCAR Antitrust Trial

  • Jim France
  • Timothy Frost
  • Heather Gibbs
  • Denny Hamlin - TESTIFIED DEC. 1 & 2
  • Brian Herbst
  • Bob Jenkins - TESTIFIED DEC. 3
  • Lesa France Kennedy
  • Michael Jordan
  • Jonathan Marshall
  • Steve Newmark
  • Steve O’Donnell
  • Steve Phelps
  • Curtis Polk
  • Scott Prime - TESTIFIED DEC. 2 & 3
  • Daniel Rascher
  • Anthony Smith
  • Edward Snyder
  • Jordan Bazant
  • Tim Clark
  • Rick Hendrick
  • Ron Drager
  • Jerry Freeze
  • Rob Kauffman
  • Ben Kennedy
  • Steve Lauletta
  • Gene Mason
  • Gene Mato
  • Roger Penske
  • John Probst
  • Cal Wells III
  • Edwin Desser
  • Kevin Murphy

Recommended Articles:

Published | Modified
Joseph Srigley
JOSEPH SRIGLEY

Joseph Srigley covers NASCAR for TobyChristie.com, Racing America, and OnSI, and is the owner of the #SrigleyStats brand. With a higher education in the subjects of business, mathematics, and data analytics, Joseph is able to fully understand the inner workings of the sport through multiple points of perspective.

Share on XFollow joe_srigley
Toby Christie
TOBY CHRISTIE

Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.

Share on XFollow toby_christie
Home/News