{"id":340249,"date":"2025-12-12T10:49:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T10:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/340249\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T10:49:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T10:49:15","slug":"nascar-reaches-settlement-with-23xi-front-row-to-end-year-long-legal-saga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/340249\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR reaches settlement with 23XI, Front Row to end year-long legal saga"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHARLOTTE, N.C. \u2014 NASCAR and the two organizations suing it, Front Row Motorsports and the Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing, reached a settlement agreement, an attorney said in court Thursday, ending the antitrust case<\/a> the race teams brought against the league and its chairman and CEO, Jim France.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pleased to say the parties have positively settled this matter in a way that will benefit the industry going forward,\u201d Jeffrey Kessler, attorney for the teams, said.<\/p>\n

After a 14-month legal battle and eight days of sparring in court<\/a> that threatened to dramatically reshape the most popular form of motorsport in the United States, the sides reached a deal over the contentious charter negotiations that culminated in 2024, leaving 23XI and Front Row accusing NASCAR of monopolistic practices.<\/p>\n

Among the settlement terms<\/a>, the two teams got back their three charters each, previously lost during the litigation. All of NASCAR\u2019s teams will also get some form of \u201cevergreen\u201d charters, which was one of the plaintiffs\u2019 chief desires in their lawsuit filed in October 2024, as well as additional added revenue benefits.<\/p>\n

The latest deal to extend the charters \u2014 which operate like franchises in other sports and guarantee teams certain revenues \u2014 was most recently renegotiated in 2024. Thirteen of 15 teams signed the new agreement; the two holdouts were 23XI and Front Row, who then filed the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said this from Day 1: Only way this sport is going to grow is we have to find some synergy between the two entities, and I think we\u2019ve gotten to that point,\u201d Jordan said outside the courthouse. \u201cUnfortunately, it took 16 months to get here, but I think, level heads got us to this point to where we can actually work together and grow this sport. I\u2019m very proud about that. And I think (France) feels the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

France, speaking right after Jordan, agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can get back to focusing on what we really love, and that\u2019s racing,\u201d France said. \u201cWe spent a lot of time not really focused on that as much as we need to be. So I feel like we\u2019ve made a very good decision here together, and we have a big opportunity to continue growing the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bob Jenkins, owner of Front Row, told\u00a0The Athletic, \u201cWe\u2019re ready to go racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The presiding judge, Kenneth D. Bell, told the parties it was \u201cthe right thing to do\u201d and congratulated both sides.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to be great for the entity NASCAR, the industry NASCAR, the teams, the drivers, and as you have so often said yourselves, ultimately the fans,\u201d Bell said, adding that he was \u201cvery happy\u201d with the settlement agreement.<\/p>\n

Afterward, there was a big scene in the courtroom with handshakes and even hugs between all the participants on both sides. Even Denny Hamlin, 23XI\u2019s co-owner, and France hugged.<\/p>\n

The jury trial began last week, with a host of prominent NASCAR figures called to the witness stand, including 23XI\u2019s Jordan<\/a> and Hamlin<\/a> and top NASCAR executives Steve O\u2019Donnell<\/a>, Steve Phelps<\/a> and France<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Denny<\/p>\n

\n Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan, co-owners of 23XI Racing. (Chris Graythen \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

In the lawsuit<\/a>, 23XI and Front Row alleged NASCAR and France used \u201canticompetitive and exclusionary practices\u201d to \u201cenrich themselves at the expense of the premier stock car racing teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suit came a month after 13 charter-holding teams signed<\/a> what was effectively a take-it-or-leave-it offer from NASCAR. Some of the teams felt they had to sign or risk NASCAR discontinuing the charter system.<\/p>\n

Front Row and 23XI were the only teams that opted not to sign the extension. And since then, the teams and the league have often traded public barbs while also acquiring high-profile attorneys who are experts in antitrust cases, with Chris Yates representing NASCAR and Kessler representing 23XI\/Front Row.<\/p>\n

Holding one of 36 available charters is akin to owning a franchise in most stick-and-ball leagues, with the benefits including certain financial guarantees and entry into all 36 points races in NASCAR\u2019s premier Cup Series. Charter values have skyrocketed in recent years, going from as low as $2 million to the most recent sale this summer, which went for $45 million. The money associated with owning a charter, and the expected continued growth in value, further complicated settlement negotiations.<\/p>\n

The settlement is likely to be welcome across the industry. The lawsuit has cast a big shadow over the sport for the past 12 months and was a dominant storyline heading into NASCAR\u2019s Cup Series championship race earlier this month in Phoenix, where Hamlin was one of the four finalists vying for NASCAR\u2019s top prize.<\/p>\n

The discovery process and trial also revealed a great deal of bad blood. Phelps was revealed in text messages<\/a> to have called Hall of Fame owner Richard Childress a \u201cstupid redneck\u201d who should be \u201ctaken out back and flogged.\u201d Hamlin gave a fiery testimony during the trial\u2019s opening days, saying, \u201cWe want to be made whole for what you guys did to us,\u201d regarding the charter agreements.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, France maintained in testimony that he was not willing to budge on allowing permanent charters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how you can set anything in this changing world we\u2019re in as permanent,\u201d France said. \u201cI\u2019m just not comfortable making agreements that go on forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stakes of the trial were high, and Judge Kenneth D. Bell had warned that the consequences would be disastrous<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If the teams had prevailed, Bell indicated he could force NASCAR to sell its racetracks or the France family to cede control of the sport. If NASCAR had prevailed, two teams would be without charters and likely out of business \u2014 including one owned by an NBA legend and one of the planet\u2019s most famous athletes, who would likely then be out of the sport.<\/p>\n

The settlement comes a few weeks after high-ranking NASCAR executives and the ownership for both teams participated in a two-day settlement conference. The first day of those talks was considered encouraging, while the second day was less so<\/a>. Following these discussions, NASCAR was determined to settle in advance of the championship weekend, though it was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Now, after months of litigation, with attorney fees for each side mounting to eight figures, and with the sport facing a potentially cataclysmic outcome no matter who prevailed, the sides have reached the checkered flag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLOTTE, N.C. \u2014 NASCAR and the two organizations suing it, Front Row Motorsports and the Michael Jordan-owned 23XI…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,12716,634,82,575],"class_list":["post-340249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-motorsports","tag-nascar","tag-sports","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}