NASCAR has filed a motion to dismiss the antitrust lawsuit filed against them by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports in the Federal Court of North Carolina in October, per Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports.
In its latest filing, the sanctioning body called the plaintiffs’ complaint a “misguided attempt to dress up private business frustrations in antitrust garb.”
“Plaintiffs’ Complaint is a misguided attempt to dress up private business frustrations in antitrust garb,” the sanctioning body said. “Plaintiffs bring claims barred by the statute of limitations and laches; they fail to plead any reduction in competition, meaning they do not have the required antitrust injury to establish antitrust standing; and they aim to renegotiate contractual terms rather than address genuine anticompetitive behavior. Plaintiffs’ claims should be dismissed.”
The lawsuit stemmed from 23XI and Front Row opting not to sign NASCAR’s final charter proposal at Atlanta Motor Speedway in September. Teams negotiated an extension of the original 2016 charter agreement for the last two years ahead of its expiration on Dec. 31. Teams made demands such as making charters permanent, which NASCAR refused to include in its proposals.
The final proposal came in at 6 p.m. ET on Friday, Sept. 6. NASCAR 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. 23XI and Front Row accused NASCAR and its CEO Jim France of “unlawful monopolization of premier stock car racing in order to enrich themselves at the expense of the premier stock car racing teams.”
NASCAR urges court to reject ‘orchestrated’ lawsuit move from 23XI, Front Row ahead of Thanksgiving
23XI and Front Row asked for preliminary injunction that would allow them to compete as chartered teams in 2025 while still proceeding with the lawsuit. The teams initially withdrew their appeal of the first request denied in court before issuing another request last week with “new evidence,” claiming that irreplaceable harm was imminent. The teams cited “three redacted reasons and an unredacted reason revolving NASCAR’s decision to remove a ‘lawsuit release’ clause from the open agreement,” per Matt Weaver of Sportsnaut.
One day after 23XI and Front Row filed the motion, NASCAR responded in opposition to the expedited timeline requested by the teams. Through attorney Chris Yates, NASCAR accused the teams through attorney Jeffrey Kessler over the timing of the modified injunction request. Yates claimed Kessler and the teams knew over a week ago they were going to refile and intentionally held off just before Thanksgiving for strategic reasons.
Amid their lawsuit and the decision not to sign the charter proposal, 23XI and Front Row each purchased a charter from Stewart-Haas Racing. According to Pockrass, NASCAR indicated it won’t consider charter transfer of the Stewart-Haas charters to the teams as they “purchased these Charters fully aware that they contained a release provision, which needed to be accepted for any requested transfer to be considered.”
“Plaintiffs concede the Charters are ‘worth millions of dollars’ and NASCAR increased the revenues available to teams,” the filing reads. “… If NASCAR truly had market power, it would be decreasing its demand for Plaintiffs’ services and lowering the amount by which it compensates them.”