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Two NASCAR teams – one of them owned by Michael Jordan – filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the stock car series and chairman Jim France on Wednesday, claiming that the new charter system limits competition by unfairly binding teams to the series, its tracks, and its suppliers.
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed suit in the Western District of North Carolina in Charlotte after two years of contentious negotiations between the privately owned National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing and the 15 charter-holding organisations in the series’ top Cup Series.
The lawsuit seeks details from NASCAR and France “related to their exclusionary practices and intent to insulate themselves from any competition”. Kessler said he would ask for a preliminary injunction that will enable the two teams to compete in 2025 under the new charter agreement while the litigation proceeds.
The teams said they would seek treble damages for anti-competitive terms that have ruled the sport since the initial 2016 charter agreement.
“Everyone knows that I have always been a fierce competitor, and that will to win is what drives me and the entire 23XI team each and every week out on the track,” said Jordan, the retired NBA superstar. “I love the sport of racing and the passion of our fans, but the way NASCAR is run today is unfair to teams, drivers, sponsors, and fans. Today’s action shows I’m willing to fight for a competitive market where everyone wins.”
A NASCAR spokesman said the series does not comment on pending litigation. NASCAR is based in Daytona Beach, Florida.
The charter system introduced in 2016 included revenue sharing and other elements of the business for the top motorsports series in the United States while guaranteeing 36 entries in every lucrative Cup Series race. Of the 19 team owners who were originally granted charters in 2016, the lawsuit says, only eight remain in the sport.
One of the departing teams was Furniture Row Motorsports, which sold its charter for US$6 million at the end of the 2018 season – a year removed from winning the Cup Series championship – proof, the plaintiffs say, that the charters left the teams without a path to profitability.
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