A very important week is on tap for 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports, and NASCAR. They will meet in court twice while potentially determining the future of the antitrust lawsuit filed by the two teams, as well as the counterclaim filed by NASCAR.

First up is a settlement conference. The two teams and NASCAR will sit down on Tuesday with the designated mediator, Jeffrey A. Mishkin. This hearing is one that NASCAR requested, albeit with a different mediator. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports responded to this request by saying they are willing to engage in settlement talks. They just sought to keep working with Mishkin.

Judge Kenneth D. Bell, the judge overseeing the antitrust lawsuit case, will also take part in this settlement conference. However, the extent of his involvement remains unknown.

This settlement conference is likely the final opportunity for the two sides to reach an agreement before a contentious trial begins. Other team owners in the sport have expressed a desire to see this case come to an end.

The other hearing scheduled this week involves requests for summary judgements. This hearing had a date earlier in October, but Judge Bell pushed it back to Thursday, Oct. 23, after ordering the plaintiffs and defendants to take part in a settlement conference.

This second hearing is their opportunity to have the judge throw out parts of either case, or the entire case entirely while ruling in favor of either NASCAR or 23XI Racing/Front Row Motorsports.

Judge Bell has previously indicated that he does not want to issue a summary judgement against either side in this case. He does not want to taint the jury pool before the Dec. 1 trial start date.

The two teams filed an antitrust lawsuit in October 2024, alleging that the France family have enriched themselves “at the expense of the premier stock car racing teams.” The two teams also alleged that NASCAR and the France family used anti-competitive practices while operating without transparency. They alleged that NASCAR violated federal antitrust law.

This lawsuit followed two years of charter negotiations between NASCAR and its teams. NASCAR ultimately issued a final offer in September 2024, which some owners described as a “take it or leave it” offer. Thirteen team owners signed the charter agreement. Only 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports declined.

NASCAR and the France family responded in March 2025 by filing a counterclaim against 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports, and 23XI co-owner Curtis Polk. NASCAR alleged that the two teams and Polk had “embarked on a strategy to threaten, coerce, and extort NASCAR into meeting their demands for better contract and financial terms.”

NASCAR also said that this is not a monopoly case; instead, NASCAR and its legal team said that this is a matter of two teams being unhappy with contract terms.