{"id":62630,"date":"2025-08-11T23:53:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T23:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/62630\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T23:53:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T23:53:08","slug":"judge-rejects-nascar-motion-over-alleged-fake-evidence-in-charter-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/62630\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Rejects NASCAR Motion Over Alleged Fake Evidence in Charter Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIn a brief but sharply worded order that chastised NASCAR<\/a> for making a \u201cplay to the court of public opinion and perhaps color [the judge\u2019s] perception\u201d of 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports and their counsel, U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell on Monday denied NASCAR an order that would have required 23XI and Front Row to show cause over allegations of submitting fake evidence and attorney-scripted testimony.<\/p>\n

\n\tBell wrote that NASCAR\u2019s motion \u201cdoes not productively move this case forward.\u201d He reminded the parties the antitrust<\/a> case is \u201cimportant\u201d because it \u201crisks the fortunes of NASCAR\u201d and the two teams. The case also \u201csignificantly impacts all the other companies and individuals who depend on their success (as well as legions of stock car racing fans),\u201d Bell stressed.<\/p>\n

\n\tLast Friday, NASCAR accused 23XI\u2014which is co-owned by Michael Jordan<\/a>, Denny Hamlin<\/a> and Curtis Polk\u2014and Front Row, along with the teams\u2019 attorneys, of\u00a0presenting fake evidence and scripted letters<\/a>. The accusation implied that Bell was duped into granting a preliminary injunction last December. The injunction, later vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, ensured the two teams could enjoy the rights and face the obligations of the 2025 charter agreements without having to agree to a mutual release provision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBell\u2019s decision last December was based in part on assertions, purportedly from 23XI drivers Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace, that they were very worried about the lack of charters and how the absence of charters would impact their careers and contracts. A month earlier, a different federal judge, Frank D. Whitney, denied essentially the same motion on grounds 23XI and Front Row had submitted insufficient evidence that an injunction was necessary for them to avert irreparable harm, meaning the kind of harm that monetary damages could not later remedy.<\/p>\n

\n\tBell on Monday suggested NASCAR misunderstood where his focus rests. The judge wrote his concern is \u201cnot on how\u201d evidence and affidavits \u201ccame to be\u201d but instead on \u201cdetermining what truthful substance they hold.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAlong those lines, Bell reasoned that \u201cregardless of whether or not the driver letters were prompted or even written by someone connected to Plaintiffs,\u201d the substance of those letters is what counts. He added that \u201ccounsel often prepare their witnesses for depositions with suggestions on how to phrase answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLast Friday, attorney Jeffrey Kessler<\/a>, who is lead counsel for 23XI Racing and Front Row in the litigation, slammed NASCAR for \u201cyet another baseless distraction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a brief but sharply worded order that chastised NASCAR for making a \u201cplay to the court of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[4997,49,48,3932,4998,40456,3004,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-62630","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-antitrust","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-denny-hamlin","12":"tag-federal-courts","13":"tag-jeffrey-kessler","14":"tag-michael-jordan","15":"tag-nascar","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62630","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=62630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}