The ongoing NASCAR lawsuit has put the fear in many fans that a potential split like what happened to IndyCar, is likely. Antitrust expert Professor Harry First of NYU has thrown some water on that fire recently. He doesn’t foresee a split happening in stock car racing.

While the NASCAR media can do its best job to play lawyer, nothing is better than having an actual expert. Professor First was on Bloomberg Law podcast with June Grasso this week. In the podcast, he went over the latest in the NASCAR antitrust lawsuit.

So, what is going on exactly in the NASCAR lawsuit? Who is doing what? And what is the ultimate goal of the case?

“It seems to me, what they’re really arguing over is, how do we split the pot?” First said of the plaintiffs’ lawsuit. “So that the teams have enough money to invest in these fast cars and all the things we need to do. You know, at the end of the day, perhaps unfortunately for consumers is there’s not going to be another circuit.

“Because these are private players pursuing this. So, the goal is not to split up NASCAR so there are competing circuits and you’d have real competition in this kind of racing. This is not Michael Jordan’s goal; this is not the goal of private parties. The goal is to basically split the monopoly profits differently. So, they’ll likely benefit. Consumers? I don’t know, maybe not so much.”

Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin aren’t seeking to create a new NASCAR with this lawsuit. They simply want the current system to be improved so that everyone benefits. Is that possible? Well, we’ll see.

The 23XI Racing and Front Row legal team will seek damages in this case. Losing charter status in 2025 cost those teams millions of dollars, potentially.

“Asking for damages in a jury trial is a good move,” First explained. “Particularly these days. I mean, juries have come in with some pretty big verdicts in these big cases against major defendants. You know, Google was one example. So, yeah, defendants have never liked jury trials.”

With a superstar like MJ in the courtroom, NASCAR will be in a tough position. While jury trials are about being fair and having your peers in the citizenry decide on a matter. But jury members are still human. Getting starstruck by a party to the lawsuit is not a new phenomenon. It is something NASCAR will have to fight against, though.