23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports vs. NASCAR lawsuit: Status ahead of Dover race

USA Today

17 hours ago

Sunday marks the 21st race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. Hendrick Motorsports drivers William Byron and Chase Elliott lead the championship standings as the drivers prepare for the Monster Mile in Dover.
Sunday's race is also the penultimate round of the NASCAR in-season challenge with four drivers still in contention for the prize: Ty Gibbs, Ty Dillon, John Hunter Nemechek and Tyler Reddick.
This season's seen plenty of intrigue on-track, most recently with Shane van Gisbergen's dominant run on non-ovals with wins in Chicago and Sonoma.
But there's been a recent development in the sports' biggest off-track storyline: 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports' lawsuit against NASCAR. Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin co-own 23XI Racing, while Tennessee-based businessman Bob Jenkins owns Front Row Motorsports. Jenkins also owns a number of restaurant franchises belonging to Yum! Brands, including many KFC and Taco Bell locations.
It's been nine months since the two teams initially filed a lawsuit accusing NASCAR of restraining fair competition and violating the Sherman Antitrust Act.
The two teams and their six drivers – 23XI Racings' Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst as well as Front Row Motorsports' Noah Gragson, Todd Gilliland and Zane Smith – will be racing as open teams for the first time after a recent ruling and the loss of their charter status.
There's been a lot of motions, counterclaims, denials, appeals and rehearings since the start of the 2025 Cup Series season. Here's a recap and timeline of all the developements:
NASCAR lawsuit latest
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports will be racing as open teams because they were denied a temporary restraining order which would've kept NASCAR from revoking their chartered status.
As open entries, the teams are not guaranteed spots on the starting grid because they do not have charter status. Open teams must qualify on time to make each race, unlike charter teams, who still participate in qualifying to earn the best starting position for each race but would take the green flag on race day regardless even if they failed to qualify.
Open entries also make less than a third as much money per race than chartered teams.
That won't be a concern this weekend at Dover Motor Speedway, however, as less than 40 cars are entered. But it could become a problem later in the season should 41 cars show up.
U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Bell said in his ruling there was no threat of the two teams' drivers not making races in Dover and Indianapolis (the next race on the 2025 calendar), so there was no irreparable harm.
So far this season, only two races have had more than four open cars enter.
'We are disappointed that the court declined to grant 23XI and Front Row Motorsports a temporary restraining order to allow the teams to continue racing as chartered teams,' the teams' attorney Jeffrey Kessler said in a statement. 'We remain confident that our motion for a preliminary injunction is legally warranted and necessary, and we look forward to the court's full review.'
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are seeking another injunction to remain chartered through the end of the season. NASCAR has agreed not to sell their charters until a ruling on that injunction, per Bell's ruling.
NASCAR lawsuit timeline
Here's what's happened since the start of the Cup Series regular season in February. To see a timeline of events prior to the 2025 Daytona 500, click here.
NASCAR claims that 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports violated antitrust laws during negotiations for a new charter agreement. These claims include that the teams colluded to get better terms, and 23XI Racing's co-owner Curtis Polk tried to boycott a qualifying event.
Chris Yates, lead attorney for NASCAR in this case, stated that they believe the two teams misused antitrust laws to force a renegotiation.
"NASCAR has no intent and no interest in renegotiating the terms of the 2025 charter," Yates said. "We're not going to let 23XI and Front Row misuse the antitrust laws to try to renegotiate the terms of the charter. That's not going to happen. So I don't see a great path to settlement, but we will participate in the court-ordered mediation process."
This response is to NASCAR's appeal to a prior ruling requiring the sanctioning body to allow 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to race as chartered teams in 2025.
NASCAR's appeal centers on the judge's reasoning that the Cup Series is its own market rather than a part of the wider motorsports landscape. The teams argue that NASCAR creates an environment that doesn't allow them to make as much money as they could.
The two teams argue that there's no evidence of an attempted boycott and that teams work together in negotiations, just like in other sports, seeing as they are all entered in the same sport.
"NASCAR's retaliatory counterclaim is an act of desperation that cannot withstand a motion to dismiss," 23XI Racing said in a statement.
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports subpoenaed Formula 1 as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL teams to provide evidence on how other sporting bodies and their teams operate.
NASCAR makes this request claiming it has more evidence that will prove teams colluded during charter negotiations.
A three-judge panel heard the appeal by NASCAR to an injunction ruling on Dec. 18, 2024 allowing 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to race as chartered teams in 2025 while this legal battle plays out.
Judge Kenneth Bell's Dec. 18 ruling was based largely on NASCAR's charter agreement including a clause that teams can't sue NASCAR. His reasoning was the teams felt like they couldn't both sign the agreement and pursue the lawsuit, hence why the injunction was necessary.
Judge Paul Niemeyer pushes back in questioning Kessler, specifically that the teams cannot "have [their] cake and eat it too," referring to 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports both suing NASCAR and being chartered competitors at the same time.
'If you don't want the contract, you don't enter into it, and you sue," Niemeyer said. "Or if you want the contract, you enter into it, and you've given up past releases."
He and other judges reasoned that the teams could sue and race as open teams, not chartered ones.
The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of NASCAR and revoked the Dec. 18 injunction. The judges note in their ruling that there is no precedent for this case and Kessler's antitrust argument "is not supported by any case of which we are aware."
They also reason that there's no indication that the teams will likely be successful in their lawsuit.
This gave the teams 14 days to ask for a rehearing and the ruling took effect a further seven days after that.
Up until this point, the two teams haven't clearly stated what they're looking for if they win this lawsuit against NASCAR. A hearing gave some general ideas.
In a hearing for a motion to throw out NASCAR's counterclaim of collusion, Kessler outlines the teams are looking for:
In a new filing for NASCAR's March 5 counterclaim, NASCAR asks for chartered teams in the Cup Series grid to turn over financial documents, calling some of these "critical to NASCAR's defense."
As expected, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports asked for a rehearing following the June 5 ruling overturning the injunction which allowed them to compete as chartered teams during the 2025 season.
This request delays when the two teams would lose their charters.
"If upheld, the ruling would set a dangerous precedent, allowing monopolists to shield themselves from legal challenges simply by requiring release language as a condition of doing business with the monopoly," Kessler said in a statement.
Judge Bell denied 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports' motion to dismiss NASCAR's counterclaim, stating that the sport had done enough to continue its counterclaim.
But he also narrowed the amount of financial information other chartered teams had to provide NASCAR. Chartered teams only had to provide anonymized top-line financial data (total costs, revenue, net profits/loss) dating back to 2014.
NASCAR was looking for more detailed information, including driver salaries and sponsorship revenue.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit heard the two teams' argument for reversing the June 5 decision which would revoke their charters during the 2025 season and denied their request.
This makes it very difficult for the teams to race as chartered outfits for the rest of the 2025 season.
"We are disappointed by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision to deny our request for a full rehearing," Kessler said in a statement. "We are committed to racing this season as we continue to fight for more competitive and fair terms for all teams to ensure the future of the sport and remain fully confident in our case."
Ahead of this weekend's race in Dover, the two teams looked for a potential way to remain chartered and decided on filing for a restraining order and new preliminary injunction.
"New information surfaced through the discovery process that overwhelmingly supports our position that a preliminary injunction is legally warranted and necessary," Kessler said in a statement.
The teams argued NASCAR informed them they'd "immediately move to sell or issue Plaintiffs' charters to other entities," which could keep the teams from getting their charters back.
NASCAR said in a statement that they have attempted to end this legal battle before trial but the two teams haven't been willing to work with them.
'It is unfortunate that instead of respecting the clear rulings of the Fourth Circuit, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are now burdening the District Court with a third motion for another unnecessary and inappropriate preliminary injunction," NASCAR said in a statement.
"We have yet to receive a proposal from 23XI or Front Row, as they have instead preferred to continue their damaging and distracting lawsuit," the statement continued. "We will defend NASCAR's integrity from this baseless lawsuit forced upon the sport that threatens to divide the stakeholders committed to serving race fans everywhere. We remain focused on collaborating with the 13 race teams that signed the 2025 charter agreements and share our mutual goal of delivering the best racing in the world each week, including this weekend in Dover.'
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.