NASCAR Commissioner Exposes Serious Issues with 23XI Racing’s 'Monopoly lawsuit'

23XI Racing and FRM’s antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR has continued over the entirety of the 2025 season, as multiple people have now started to support the motion. Denny Hamlin‘s co-owned team, along with FRM, believes that NASCAR is running a monopoly and imposing unjust restrictions on the teams. As such, following a recent ruling on the case, NASCAR’s commissioner, Steve Phelps, speaks against the lawsuit and why it is ruining the sport’s essence.

Both 23XI and FRM incurred a hit in their cases as the U.S District Court and the U.S Court of Appeals vacated the preliminary injunctions from the District Court. Simply put, both teams run a massive risk of losing their charter status for the 2025 season and onwards, with severe consequences to follow. Still, 23XI and FRM refuse to back down as they are hell bent on seeing changes to NASCAR’s charter system.

Steve Phelps is understandably on NASCAR’s side as he takes a brutal jibe at the lawsuit. Phelps reckoned that he wasn’t sure why the teams would pursue the matter legally and risk their charter status. Moreover, the 63-year-old declared that contrary to popular belief, the legal case isn’t an ‘antitrust’ case as it is more a contract dispute than illegal market control.

Listen, I’m not sure why they decided to bring a suit, And there’s another team called Front Row that also partnered with them on this suit. It is an antitrust case. We don’t believe it’s an antitrust case.

Steve Phelps told CNBC Sport.

Steve Phelps further sided with NASCAR and pointed out that the organizations on the grid received a significant increase in revenue over the years, even with the charter system in place. Phelps insisted that there was an upwards of 73% increment under the newly proposed charter system compared to previous agreements. The 63-year-old declared that this was a substantial increase, as the teams received a fair share of monetary funds under the new system.

There was a significant increase in revenue that the teams got – so over the period of time, I think that the increase that we offered the race team contract to contract was an increase of 73%, Ttat’s a significant increase.

Steve Phelps added.

Steve Phelps asserts NASCAR needs ‘healthy race teams’

NASCAR provided a substantial increase in funding under the newly proposed charter. Still, 23XI and FRM believe that the setup gives the governing body too much control and forces the outfits to surrender certain legal rights. Steve Phelps argues that the sport has already been generous, and if NASCAR were truly monopolistic, it wouldn’t have proposed a 73% increase in financial support for the competitors.