Federal judge concerned for 23XI, FRM and NASCAR amid heated lawsuit: ‘Scares me to death’

23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports and NASCAR went to court on Tuesday for a hearing as part of the teams’ antitrust lawsuit against the stock car racing series and its CEO Jim France. Judge Ken Bell of North Carolina’s Western District urged both sides to settle before the case is scheduled to go to trial Dec. 1.

“It’s hard to picture a winner if this goes to the mat — or to the flag — in this case,” Bell said, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “It scares me to death to think about what all this is costing.”

Details of Tuesday hearing between 23XI, Front Row vs. NASCAR

23XI and Front Row requested Tuesday’s hearing to dismiss NASCAR’s countersuit, which accuses the Cup Series teams of illegally conspiring to get better charter terms in the 2025-31 agreement. NASCAR attorneys argued that all the teams boycotted a council meeting in February 2024, per Pockrass. To NASCAR, that indicated the teams had the power to boycott a race. Jeffrey Kessler, attorney for 23XI and Front Row, argued the following:

“Kessler argued that because the teams did negotiate individually with NASCAR and because NASCAR negotiated with the Race Team Alliance and its Team Negotiating Committee, that there was nothing illegal about the teams trying to be aligned in their stance,” Pockrass wrote.

Bell said he would rule soon. The ongoing legal battle has taken several twists and turns since the teams filed the lawsuit Oct. 2, 2024, and this is just another step in the process.

“NASCAR knows it has no defense to the monopolization case. So, they have come up with this claim about joint negotiations, which they agreed to, never objected to, and now suddenly it’s an antitrust violation,” Kessler said, via Alex Schiffer of Front Office Sports. “It makes absolutely no sense. It’s not going to help them deflect from the monopolizing they have done in this market and the harm they have inflicted.”

23XI, Front Row vs. NASCAR: How we got here

The antitrust lawsuit stemmed from 23XI and Front Row opting not to sign NASCAR’s final charter proposal last September at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Teams negotiated an extension of the original 2016 charter agreement for two years ahead of its Dec. 31 expiration. They made demands such as making charters permanent, which NASCAR refused to include in its proposals.

The final proposal came Sept. 6 at 6 p.m. ET. NASCAR allegedly gave teams a six-hour deadline to sign, threatening to “eliminate the charter system altogether for 2025 and beyond” if they did not. 23XI and Front Row were the two holdouts among the 15 Cup Series teams. The final offer included a nearly 50 percent increase that teams earned from NASCAR’s record $1.1 billion per year television deal that went into effect in 2025 and also runs through 2031.

Both teams secured a preliminary injunction to continue racing while the lawsuit is pending. The U.S. Court of Appeals made a major decision June 5, vacating the preliminary injunction that granted charter status to 23XI and Front Row. The teams have until Friday to submit a request for a rehearing by all judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals fourth circuit. Both sides are due back in court June 24.