NASCAR\u2019s reputation has been dragged through the mud of late, with the organization\u2019s executives having come out of recent pre-trial depositions particularly poorly as preparations continue for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports\u2019 antitrust lawsuit against it to go to trial.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit centers around the new charter agreement<\/a>, which was signed by all teams barring 23XI (Which is co-owned by Denny Hamlin<\/a> and Michael Jordan<\/a>) and FRM in 2024, with the two outliers alleging \u201cmonopolistic\u201d behaviour on the part of NASCAR. And while talks were recently held over a potential settlement, an agreement could not be reached<\/a>, hence the ongoing pre-trial depositions and the rapidly approaching trip to the courtroom in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Dec. 1st.<\/p>\n This deposition has seen previously private messages between NASCAR<\/a> executives emerge, in which 23XI co-owner and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Hamlin was labeled \u201cplain stupid\u201d<\/a> for his participation in the now-defunct rival Superstar Racing Experience (SRX), with NASCAR President Steve O\u2019Donnell going on to say, \u201cNeed to put a knife in this trash series.\u201d<\/p>\n NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps has also come out of the past few days poorly, with messages from 2023 having been revealed in which he called Hall of Famer Richard Childress \u201can idiot,\u201d<\/a> adding, \u201cChildress needs to be taken out back and flogged. He\u2019s a stupid redneck who owes his entire fortune to NASCAR.\u201d<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, Childress\u2019 team has since released a strongly worded statement claiming that it may yet seek legal action in response<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n