CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell concluded his testimony Friday in the ongoing federal lawsuit that has two teams suing the league for operating as an illegal monopoly by detailing the contentious and bitter negotiations NASCAR had with one of those teams, 23XI Racing, co-owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan.
During his nearly two-hour testimony that continued from the preceding day, O’Donnell described negotiating meetings with 23XI co-owner Curtis Polk as “the most difficult meetings I’ve had with an individual in my 30 years in NASCAR.”
Polk took on a leadership role in negotiations between the 15 charter-holding teams and NASCAR over an extension to the charter agreement that provides specific guarantees to teams, including set revenues and starting points in every premier Cup Series points race.
Polk, Jordan’s longtime business partner, was an outsider to NASCAR before he, Jordan and current NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin formed 23XI in 2021 and he entered the sport promising other team owners they would receive a better deal when they renegotiated the terms of the charter agreement that was set to expire after the 2024 season.
“Mr. Polk stuck to his messages. He did not have an appreciation for the sport,” O’Donnell testified. “He was a businessman who said he could leave anytime. He threatened to kick me out of my own meeting; (I) knew he wasn’t coming from a place of respect.”
The negotiations between NASCAR and the teams began in 2022 and didn’t conclude until September 2024, when 13 of 15 teams signed what some teams said was a “take-it-or-leave-it offer,” with NASCAR effectively threatening to end the charter agreement if they didn’t sign.
23XI and Front Row Motorsports, owned by restaurant entrepreneur Bob Jenkins, were the only teams that opted not to sign the charter extension. They filed a joint antitrust lawsuit the following month against NASCAR and its CEO and chairman, Jim France, and the trial for the case began this week in downtown Charlotte.
O’Donnell refuted that NASCAR made a take-it-or-leave-it offer. Defense attorney Chris Yates entered into evidence an email dated Aug. 30, 2024, from NASCAR to Jordan, Hamlin and Polk with NASCAR’s last offer to end the two-plus years of negotiations and stated they wanted a response by Sept. 6, 2024, as negotiations would not continue afterwards.
On Sept. 6, NASCAR made a revised offer to all 15 charter teams with an hour deadline to sign. That deadline was later extended by six hours.
Throughout the week, the teams’ lawyers have attempted to illustrate the steps NASCAR took during charter negotiations to secure its hold on the highest level of stock-car racing in the United States, including entering into exclusivity agreements with any track that hosted a race for one of NASCAR’s three national divisions (Cup, Xfinity or Trucks).
Of particular focus has been the concern NASCAR’s executives had for a stock car series, the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX), that began in 2021 and was co-owned by three-time Cup champion Tony Stewart. Evidence has been presented showing NASCAR seeking to take steps to limit SRX’s growth, as the series, in NASCAR’s estimation, began to look more and more like the product NASCAR produced.
On Friday, O’Donnell said at first NASCAR had no issue with SRX when Stewart and his group explained the concept to NASCAR, initially believing it was a good thing for motorsports as a whole. However, O’Donnell acknowledged his viewpoint changed after seeing Chase Elliott, NASCAR’s most popular driver as voted by fans, compete in an SRX race with a car that looked similar to the one Elliott races in NASCAR events.
“Yes,” O’Donnell said when asked if he was concerned during cross-examination by Jeffrey Kessler, attorney for 23XI and Front Row.
Heather Gibbs talks about pleading letter to France
Driver Ty Gibbs with mother Heather, now a co-owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, in 2023. (Sean Gardner / Getty Images)
After O’Donnell’s testimony wrapped, Joe Gibbs Racing co-owner Heather Gibbs took the witness stand. Gibbs told the jury that Joe Gibbs, her father-in-law, pleaded with Jim France not to impose a strict charter agreement offer on Sept. 6, 2024.
“Don’t do this to us!” Gibbs begged France.
But France was resolute with NASCAR’s deadline.
“If I wake up and I have 20 charters, I have 20,” France replied, according to Heather Gibbs’ testimony. “If I have 30, I have 30.”
As it turned out, France had 30 charters agreements signed — with JGR’s four among them. But Gibbs testified it was done with a “gun to the head.”
“If you don’t sign it, everything is gone,” she said.
That includes the legacies of her late husband, Coy, and brother-in-law, J.D. who died in 2019 from a neurological disease. Coy Gibbs died at 49 on Nov. 6, 2022, the same night their son Ty won the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship. Heather Gibbs spoke of his death that night, saying “Coy didn’t wake up.”
That forced Heather to leave her life as a real estate agent and mother of four children to take a leadership role at JGR, where she has been involved in charter negotiations.
She wrote a letter to the France family pleading for permanent charters, but it fell on deaf ears with Jim France. Earlier, O’Donnell testified France had verbally angry reactions to reading Gibbs’ letter.
“It’s absolutely vital” for the teams to have permanent charters, Gibbs said. “We need the security to know what we built can’t be taken away.”
Jordan is scheduled to testify Friday afternoon.