CHARLOTTE, N.C. — 23XI Racing co-owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin began NASCAR championship week by taking on the sanctioning body in federal court.
23XI, which along with Front Row Motorsports is suing NASCAR and its CEO Jim France for antitrust violations, had its first in-person confrontation with NASCAR during a Monday hearing regarding a request for a preliminary injunction.
On the fifth floor of the federal courthouse in Charlotte, the teams’ lawyer, Jeffrey Kessler, sparred with NASCAR lawyer Chris Yates during a heated, sometimes contentious hearing. At issue is a clause in NASCAR’s 2025 charter agreement with teams that doesn’t allow them to take legal action; 23XI and FRM asked Judge Frank Whitney to waive that clause and allow them to sign the agreements so they could continue racing, either as charter teams or non-charter “open” teams.
“We literally cannot practice our profession without signing this waiver,” Kessler said.
Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin and Curtis Polk, co-owners of 23XI Racing, along with Bob Jenkins and Jerry Freeze of Front Row Motorsports, enter a federal courthouse for today’s injunction hearing. pic.twitter.com/hXNJaecFFW
– Jordan Bianchi (@Jordan_Bianchi) November 4, 2024
The teams are hoping Whitney will waive the clause and reinstate the original lease offer that NASCAR had on the table on Sept. 6, when 13 owners signed it. The DocuSign originally had a deadline of Nov. 5, Kessler said, but NASCAR has now removed it.
Yates said NASCAR was no longer interested in entering into a charter agreement with teams after they publicly disparaged NASCAR.
“They have given NASCAR a series of names that undermine the brand and goodwill of NASCAR,” Yates said. “NASCAR only wishes to enter into charter agreements with teams who wish to work collectively to grow the sport.”
Yates added that the teams had launched a “frontal attack on the charter system” and argued that NASCAR was not a monopoly for several reasons, including the availability of 128 other tracks on which stock cars could race in the States. -United outside the venues of the 26 Cup Series. .
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He also said owners could choose to do something other than run a NASCAR team with their business, such as “buying another NBA team,” a nod to Jordan’s former ownership of the Charlotte Hornets. But Kessler said suggesting that 23XI and FRM might suddenly change their business model, even to another racing series, would be like asking a football player to become a baseball player.
Jordan spent much of Yates’ arguments leaning forward intently from his seat in the front row of the courtroom, sometimes with a smirk and other times holding his chin.
Michael Jordan after the hearing: pic.twitter.com/2L4MQFmsxj
– Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) November 4, 2024
Yates said that under the 2025 charter agreement, racing teams will receive about half of all television revenue and said the worst-performing charter team would receive a 50 percent increase in payments per compared to the current agreement.
He said NASCAR was contractually obligated to notify teams of purse money for next season by Nov. 1, which is why NASCAR reduced the number to 32 charters with no plans to re-offer 23XI and FRM their four existing combined charters. Charters offer guaranteed entry to every Cup Series race, as well as a higher share of race winnings. Yates said the teams are asking the judge to force NASCAR into a seven- to 14-year deal by rewriting the contract “on their preferred terms.”
“They are trying to force NASCAR into an unwanted charter relationship,” he said.
Kessler denied that and said the teams only wanted the judge to waive the clause for the duration of this case, adding, “I hope it doesn’t take 14 years.”
Yates also said the teams’ claim that many owners were forced to sign the new deal on Sept. 6 was false because team owners like Roger Penske, Rick Hendrick and Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Fame Joe Gibbs aren’t the type of people who get pushed around. He also cited Hendrick and owner Justin Marks as saying they were satisfied with the terms of the new charter agreement.
At one point, Kessler loudly declared that Yates was “fabricating facts” and “distorting” the teams’ case to mislead the judge. Kessler rephrased the terms of what the teams were asking for “so even (Yates) could understand it.”
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Yates responded: “We disagree on pretty much everything he said. »
Kessler also revealed that 23XI’s driver contract with Tyler Reddick would allow the driver to leave as a free agent if 23XI did not have a charter for him, as well as the team’s sponsors.
Reddick is one of four drivers competing for the NASCAR Cup Series championship Sunday at Phoenix Raceway. Before the hearing, Whitney told those in the room that he hadn’t seen his courtroom this full “in several years” and added, “I feel like I have two too full law firms in front of me. »
Whitney initially seemed skeptical of Kessler’s claims while more open to Yates’ arguments, but Kessler’s rebuttals left both sides on equal footing.
The judge praised both lawyers for their “extraordinary” and “very excellent” arguments and said he would issue a written ruling by Friday.
Both parties seemed satisfied afterward. Although NASCAR made no comment, France turned and winked at senior advisor Mike Helton in the row behind him.
And Jordan, speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, said Kessler “did an incredible job today.”
“I put all my cards on the table,” Jordan said. “I think we did a good job. But I’m looking forward to winning the championship this weekend.
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(Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images)