4 Takeaways From the NASCAR vs. 23XI/FRM Trial, Day 5

The first week of the historic lawsuit between NASCAR and 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports has officially wrapped up, with Friday (Dec. 5) in particular being a momentous day.

The day began with the conclusion of the cross-examination of NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell, before Heather Gibbs, co-owner of Joe Gibbs Racing (as well as Coy Gibbs‘ wife and Ty Gibbs‘ mother) also gave her testimony before the recess for lunch.

After court returned to session, 23XI co-owner and basketball legend Michael Jordan took the stand for his testimony. To wrap up the day, Race Team Alliance executive director Jonathan Marshall began both direct and cross-examination. The trial will resume with Marshall continuing testimony on Monday (Dec. 8).

If you followed SRX from the beginning, you might remember that Chase Elliott made his debut in the series in the 2021 finale at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, a race in which he won after a spirited battle with his father Bill.

In his cross-examination, O’Donnell testified, when asked whether or not NASCAR ever viewed SRX as a threat, that it only viewed SRX as such after Elliott’s participation. O’Donnell made that claim due to his running of a No. 9 font similar to that of his Cup Series ride, with sponsorship from NAPA — also just like his Cup Series ride.

When 23XI and FRM lawyer Jeffrey Kessler stated that SRX is no longer competing, O’Donnell claimed an announcement just came out that it would be returning — something that has actually not been announced, despite SRX’s periodic, sometimes cryptic tweets throughout the trial and the lead-up to it.

O’Donnell is correct that Elliott drove a NAPA No. 9 in SRX, but the font of his number was the same as every other driver who competed in SRX. He did not run his Hendrick Motorsports No. 9, though, admittedly, the font SRX used looked similar to old HMS numbers of the past.

If running a similar number font, of all things, was enough for NASCAR to think SRX was a threat, then how does it view other series such as the NTT IndyCar Series, which has seen teams like Dreyer & Reinbold Racing utilize literal identical fonts to those of NASCAR cars?

‘It’s Like You Have a Gun to Your Head’: Heather Gibbs Opens Up on Charter Negotiations

Gibbs’ testimony may have launched her into “star witness” discussions when the trial is all said and done, given her lone connection to the trial (besides being a team owner who signed the charter agreement) is that her father-in-law Joe Gibbs owns the car that Denny Hamlin (you know, co-owner of 23XI) drives.

Gibbs’ testimony didn’t take too long in the grand scheme of the day, but her statements were heartfelt and informative.

Gibbs opened her testimony by recounting the loss of her husband Coy as well as Coy’s brother JD a few years earlier. After that, she corroborated what other witnesses, including Hamlin and team owner Bob Jenkins, said about the charter agreement, with one statement in particular sticking out.

”If we don’t take the payout they are offering, we can’t keep going,” Gibbs said. “It’s like you have a gun to your head. If you don’t sign it, everything is gone.”

Gibbs also said that Joe personally called Jim France to ask for more time to sign the charter agreement, but France vehemently denied, stating that he was happy whether 20 teams signed or 30 teams signed.

That statement from Gibbs directly contradicted a statement from O’Donnell earlier that claimed the teams had a week to sign the agreement instead of the few hours that has publicly been stated time and time again.

So it feels like somebody is not being 100% truthful here … but who? Gibbs has no reason to lie, with her even saying that JGR signed the agreement once they thought about the legacy of Coy and JD.

But why would O’Donnell risk lying under oath to better NASCAR’s case? Wouldn’t that only make NASCAR look worse in the court of public opinion? Especially after those texts were released just before the trial, doing more to harm your reputation, specifically in a court of law, would be highly frowned upon.

Jordan was at the stand for more than an hour, saying among other things, that Cale Yarborough was the true driver of the No. 11 (with a laugh and apology to Hamlin) and that he is less involved in the day-to-day operations of 23XI, though he is more involved with sponsorship aspect, with sponsors such as McDonald’s backing the team.

Jordan testified that he admired what the France family has built over the past nearly 80 years. He also said that he felt welcomed by the sport openly when he entered team ownership in 2021 and purchased a third charter for Riley Herbst prior to this season because he felt it gave his team an even better shot at winning a championship.

The crux of Jordan’s testimony rested on why he even decided to take NASCAR to court in the first place instead of signing the charter agreement. Jordan said permanent charters, a point of contention for many within the NASCAR industry in regard to the lawsuit, were a necessity and was frustrated over NASCAR’s consideration, or lack thereof, in instituting them.

Jordan also felt that no governance was an issue and that there was a level of unfairness to the financial side of the agreement. Overall, Jordan is in the position where he wants to improve relations between the teams and the sanctioning body. Though the lawsuit seems (and is) contentious in nature, it felt like Jordan tried to boil it all down to that one point.

Jordan’s testimony is important to what his side is trying to accomplish. To this point, it seemed like there was a common perception that Jordan, Hamlin, Bob Jenkins and 23XI and FRM just wanted to burn the sport to the ground and leave no paper trail in doing so. While NASCAR is sure to change drastically regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, it seems like when all is said and done, Jordan and co. want to come to the table for the next charter agreement in 2032 and have more of a say, working with NASCAR more as partners rather than boss and employees.

NASCAR Scores Win With RTA Executive Director‘s Hesitancy

To this point, it has seemed like 23XI and FRM have taken most, if not all, the legal victories through testimonies — though most of them have been because all their witnesses have testified to this point and none of NASCAR’s have. This is something that Judge Bell is hoping to speed up come next week, as after the first of what is supposed to be a two-week trial, 23XI and FRM are still combing through witnesses.

Nevertheless, Marshall took the stand as the fourth and final witness of the day. In his testimony, he brought up the point that around 50 teams who have made a start in the last 20 Daytona 500s are now defunct. He also mentioned a 2021 study about a potential race in Oman that would’ve boosted the team’s finances due to the wealth that exists in the Middle East. Unfortunately, the race never came to fruition.

After that, NASCAR’s cross-examination on Marshall was of note, as several of the questions he was asked were either given answers of deflection or a non-answer altogether. Marshall practically admitted he doesn’t pay close attention to the race teams’ financials, despite showing the jury he was a financial expert. Additionally, Marshall claimed that he knew NASCAR’s financials better because it’s a public company — which is not true, as it is somewhat common knowledge that NASCAR is a private entity.

Later, Marshall didn’t directly answer a question asked about Curtis Polk, who allegedly said that speaking negatively to media about NASCAR could potentially help charter negotiations.

Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter. He has also assisted with short track content and social media, among other duties he takes/has taken on for the site. In 2025, he became an official member of the National Motorsports Press Association. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight coordinator in his free time.

You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.