The judge in the NASCAR antitrust case denied a request for a preliminary injunction from two race teams on Friday, including the one co-owned by Michael Jordan.
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports went to court on Monday and argued in favor of the preliminary injunction, which would have granted them the right to sign NASCAR’s 2025 charter agreements, minus a clause that prevents them from taking legal action against NASCAR. The request is part of a larger antitrust lawsuit the two teams have filed against NASCAR and NASCAR CEO Jim France.
But U.S. District Court Judge Frank Whitney ruled the teams did not meet the standard for such a request because they did not prove there would be irreparable harm in the event an injunction was not granted.
“Although Plaintiffs allege they are on the brink of irreparable harm, the 2025 racing season is months away — the stock cars remain in the garage,” Whitney wrote. “… At this stage, the teams are no closer to irreparable harm than they are to the command, ‘Drivers, start your engines,’ at the first race of the 2025 season.”
The teams argued the lack of charter agreements would leave them with the potential loss of their drivers, sponsors, purse money and goodwill from fans. But Whitney ruled that was a “speculative, possible” loss rather than a certain one.
“Plaintiffs have not alleged that their business cannot survive without a preliminary injunction,” Whitney wrote. “Instead, they allege that their businesses may not survive without a preliminary injunction.”
The dispute centers around an extension to the charter agreement 13 of 15 Cup Series teams signed in September, with 23XI and Front Row the lone holdouts.
NASCAR’s charter agreement, comparable to a franchise-like system in place in stick-and-ball sports, guarantees teams a percentage of revenue NASCAR earns through a seven-year media rights deal the sanctioning body signed last year with Fox Sports, NBC Sports, Amazon Prime and Warner Bros. The deal goes into effect in 2025. That percentage is close to 50 percent, according to court documents, making the teams the largest beneficiary of the deal.
23XI and Front Row declined to sign the deal after NASCAR imposed a “take-it-or-leave-it” final offer. The teams later filed a joint antitrust lawsuit alleging NASCAR and France “have used anti-competitive practices to prevent fair competition in the sport.”
NASCAR president Steve Phelps declined to answer questions Friday regarding the lawsuit during his annual “State of the Sport” address, but in a statement emphasized that the teams’ financial wellbeing is important to the sanctioning body.
“We are very happy that 32 of 36 charters were extended,” Phelps said. “And we are excited about that because those race teams — the deal that was put on the table for them, which primarily the big win for the race teams was money. And I won’t go into what that money split looks like, but what I will say is that amount of money, it now puts the race team starting in ‘25 as the single largest beneficiary of our media deal. And we did that because the race teams were upside down financially.”
The Athletic has reached out to 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports for comment.
(Photo: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
