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<\/p>\nNASCAR Vs. 23XI\/FRM Lawsuit Day 3 Recap<\/p>\n
A Witness Admitted NASCAR Chose A \u201cTake It or Leave It\u201d Charter Offer Over Other Options\u2026 And There Was No Real Counterargument<\/p>\n
For me, this moment was the most important one of the day. Scott Prime, NASCAR\u2019s Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, was pressed by Kessler as to whether the current charter agreement, put in place in 2025, was a \u201ctake it or leave it\u201d offer.<\/p>\n
For those who might not know or remember, NASCAR gave a deadline of Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, to sign onto the current agreement or else. Prime not only admitted, after much prodding, that the deal was \u201ctake it or leave it\u201d but that the teams would not be on strong financial footing to stay in the sport otherwise.<\/p>\n
It led to the following back-and-forth between Kessler and Prime about NASCAR.<\/p>\n
Kessler: \u201cBecause you\u2019re a monopoly, yes?\u201d<\/p>\n
Prime: \u201cWe are the premier stock car series.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kessler: \u201cBecause there\u2019s no other one?<\/p>\n
Prime: \u201cPremier means there\u2019s only one of them, yes\u201d<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s stop right there. The whole crux of the 23XI\/FRM argument is that NASCAR used their monopoly (already established as one in this case) to inflict financial harm on those with less power.<\/p>\n
The very definition of bullying reads \u201cseeking to harm, intimidate, or coerce (someone perceived as vulnerable).\u201d Right here is the heart of the argument, something Prime admitted was true: they put together a take-it-or-leave-it situation, then shoved it down the throat of the teams or else grave financial harm would be inflicted upon them (by their exclusion).<\/p>\n
NASCAR\u2019s move to counter Prime\u2019s admission was to reemphasize how the sport had negotiated in good faith, offering a significant increase in revenue. Again, they emphasized how the deal that was signed resulted in more money for the teams.<\/p>\n
Prime was also directly asked, \u201cDid you believe you were putting a gun to their heads?\u201d regarding the Sept. 6 deadline. Prime replied with a \u201cno, we believe we had all the issues resolved,\u201d attempting to show it was not so much a deadline to sign the agreement but a formality.<\/p>\n
Not to 23XI\/FRM it wasn\u2019t. And there was plenty of evidence out there Wednesday in support of that point.<\/p>\n
No matter how you slice it, Kessler showed that the final move in negotiation was the very definition of a bullying tactic. And as Prime left the stand, it was hard to find any evidence that contradicted it.<\/p>\n
Bringing the Heat: Reacting to Day 3 of the NASCAR vs. 23XI\/FRM Trial<\/p>\n NASCAR Put Options On The Table Internally To Blow Up The System<\/p>\n One of the more fascinating parts of Prime\u2019s testimony was an email where he presented five options to NASCAR executives on how to handle the charter negotiations. Not all of them were to keep the current charter system in place.<\/p>\n Among the interesting ones: Having a first come, first serve situation where the first 32 teams get a charter. Could you imagine? It\u2019s like going to a baseball stadium where the first 1,000 fans get a bobblehead doll\u2026 except hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake?<\/p>\n What if someone misses the email? Bob Jenkins, for example, said he was out to dinner when the infamous Sept. 6 charter \u201cdemand\u201d came in and wasn\u2019t aware of the signing deadline. If NASCAR chose this option, you could literally have someone like Roger Penske on vacation or something and they come back hours later only to find out they lost all their charters. What a crazy idea.<\/p>\n Another option Prime listed: the \u201cGold Codes,\u201d a situation where NASCAR would retake full control of the charters. That option would have ripped away all the leverage from teams and put the sport fully in charge of who gets to race going forward. There was also an option openly discussed to ditch charters altogether and go back to a 100% open qualifying system, cutting off the partnership NASCAR had worked to establish with team owners over the past decade.<\/p>\n In the end, NASCAR went with the \u201ctake or leave it\u201d style of negotiating, a PR nightmare in its own right. But a look at these other choices shows just how much worse it could have been.<\/p>\n Bob Jenkins Has Lost A Lot Of Money To Own A NASCAR Team \u2026 And Has The Receipts To Prove It<\/p>\n The second and final witness for Wednesday was Bob Jenkins, the owner of Front Row Motorsports for the past two decades. While 23XI Racing is a year removed from making the Championship 4, Jenkins\u2019 history makes him the quintessential middle-class NASCAR owner for the jury. He\u2019s won just four times through the years, posting no finish better than 15th in points and has not made a profit in any season he\u2019s been racing in NASCAR.<\/p>\n Just think about that for a second. An owner of three NASCAR Cup teams, comprising 7.5 percent of a hypothetical 40-car grid, loses money every year. Compare that to, say, a NBA franchise like the Boston Celtics who were recently valuated and sold at $6.1 billion<\/a>. It\u2019s some financial dysfunction that separates this sport from the stick-and-ball ones in a highly negative way. <\/p>\n It\u2019s not just a profit Jenkins is missing out on. As he testified, what\u2019s hobbling FRM is the increasing amount they\u2019re spending. A powerful moment is when Jenkins explained he only paid $1.8 million for parts between the 2017 and 2021 seasons, only for that to increase substantially to $4.7 million from 2022-24. Of course, those years were when the Next Gen chassis, designed to reduce expenses, became mandatory for all Cup race teams.<\/p>\n As Jenkins explained it all, Kessler got busy building up his character to the jury. The fact he doesn\u2019t charge his sons whenever they sponsor his cars through the family\u2019s Long John Silver\u2019s franchise. His commitment to build and support Christian schools. The money Jenkins spent freely out of his own pocket, knowing he wouldn\u2019t recover it because of his passion for the sport.<\/p>\n That, in my opinion, makes him a more sympathetic figure to a new-to-NASCAR jury than Denny Hamlin<\/a>. Despite his millions, Jenkins came off like a decent man trying to simply survive in the sport but suffering, in his words, \u201ctaxation without representation.\u201d<\/p>\n Some Drivers Pay Money To Race In The Cup Series<\/p>\n This revelation isn\u2019t a surprise, per se, to fans who follow the sport closely. It won\u2019t even have a bearing on the outcome of the case. But it\u2019s one of a myriad of problems NASCAR needs to work on solving long after this trial is over.<\/p>\n FOX Sports\u2019 Bob Pockrass had a good summary of how Jenkins\u2019 driver contracts worked.<\/p>\n Some Front Row financial info: \u2014 Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) December 3, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n For a sport born and bred from blue-collar roots, it\u2019s hard to relate to drivers who are paying millions for the right to get behind the wheel of a race car, regardless of past results or overall talent. It\u2019s a total disconnect in a sport where independents like Dave Marcis<\/a> and Jimmy Means<\/a> were able to qualify, then race with a crew of near volunteers.<\/p>\n Could you imagine if Shohei Ohtani had to fundraise $2 million just to get on the field? Or if Lebron James was replaced in the starting lineup because he didn\u2019t have enough sponsorship to keep the team financially viable? It\u2019s a pay-to-play system that doesn\u2019t make it feel like NASCAR is fielding the most talented drivers available. <\/p>\n A court case fighting over millions, with drivers fundraising millions just to drive in it every weekend? Feels very unrelatable to the average guy just looking to play around at your local short track while making ends meet during the week. The hope is, whatever happens, a better system emerges so your corporate marketing skills don\u2019t dictate a driver\u2019s future athletic career.<\/p>\n Follow Tom Bowles at @NASCARBowles<\/a><\/p>\n Majority Owner and Editor in Chief\u00a0at\u00a0Frontstretch<\/p>\n The author of Did You Notice? (Wednesdays) Tom spends his time overseeing Frontstretch\u2019s 40+ staff members as its majority owner and Editor-in-Chief. Based outside Philadelphia, Bowles is a two-time Emmy winner in NASCAR television and has worked in racing production with FOX, TNT, and ESPN while appearing on-air for SIRIUS XM Radio and FOX Sports 1’s former show, the Crowd Goes Wild. He most recently consulted with SRX Racing, helping manage cutting-edge technology and graphics that appeared on their CBS broadcasts during 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\n You can find Tom\u2019s writing here, at CBSSports.com and Athlonsports.com, where he\u2019s been an editorial consultant for the annual racing magazine for 15 years.<\/p>\n \t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-martinsville-ii-cup-denny-hamlin-face-nkp-150x100.jpg\")
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-Matt Tifft contract was for him to pay $2.1M for Cup ride plus $500K to Lakeway Christian Schools (which Jenkins founded), deal never completed after Tifft medical issues
-Chandler Smith paid $1.5M for truck ride
-Ford paid team $1.175M in 2025<\/p>\n![\"Donate](\"https:\/\/frontstretch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/frontstretch-donate.avif\")
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