During a routine hearing in the antitrust lawsuit filed against NASCAR, correspondences between the stakeholders revealed a lot of salty language.
Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have not signed the Charter and requested an injunction that would allow the teams to receive the financial benefits of a Chartered team.
A ruling should be issued next week, with the trial likely beginning in December.
What was supposed to be a simple hearing on two motions in the antitrust lawsuit filed against NASCAR turned into a mudslinging session in federal court in Charlotte, North Carolina, with both sides unveiling derogatory email conversations.
“This is not looking like where friends shake and make up after a drunken bar fight. Everyone is at risk here,” US District Judge Kenneth D. Bell said.
NASCAR CEO and Chairman Jim France attended the hearing as did NASCAR Executive Vice Chair Lesa France Kennedy. 23XI Racing owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin were also in the courtroom.
During the two-hour hearing, attorney Jeffrey Kessler cited correspondence where NASCAR was willing to let the sport return to the way it was in 1996 when there were no Charters, and it was a “redneck Southern sport.” He also revealed NASCAR had a “Gold Coats” plan where the sanctioning body would own all of the teams and there would be no independent organizations.
NASCAR attorney Chris Yates presented correspondence involving 23XI Racing owners Jordan, Hamlin, and Curtis Polk. In the documents, Hamlin, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, said, “My despise of the France family runs deep.” Jordan, whose team has an alliance with JGR, called the team “Fuckers!!!!” after being told JGR had signed the new Charter agreement. He then said all of the teams that signed the new Charter agreement would “regret not supporting us. Pussies!!!!!!!!”
Since 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports didn’t sign the new Charter agreement that’s six Charters NASCAR is holding. NASCAR asked that it be allowed to release one of the Charters to a team that had requested one.
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports requested an injunction that would allow the two NASCAR Cup teams to receive the financial benefits of a Chartered team. Kessler asked that the status quo be maintained.
Bell said he would issue a ruling on the requests next week.
“NASCAR’s own documents speak for themselves,” Kessler told the media after the hearing. “I think you finally got to see them. Maybe you could see what this case is about. I think NASCAR’s arguments against those documents speak for themselves as well. We are very, very happy to have had this opportunity.”
Jordan spoke briefly to reporters on the federal courthouse steps after the hearing.
“I’ve been a fan of the game for a long period of time,” Jordan said. “When we first started this whole process, I’ve always said that I want to fight for the betterment of the sport. Even though they tried to point out that we made some money or we had a successful business, that’s not the point. The point is the sport itself needs to continually change for the better for the fans, as well as for the teams, as well as for NASCAR, too, if they understand that.
“I feel like we made a good statement today about that. If I have to fight this to the end for the betterment of the sport, I will do that.”
With the start of the 2026 NASCAR season just six months away, there is now an air of uncertainty as to what the racing landscape may look like due to the antitrust suit, Bell said.
“If the plaintiffs (23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports) prevail, NASCAR will look very different,” Bell says. “If the defendants (NASCAR) win, everyone knows what 2026 will look like.”
It’s in the jury’s hands.
Bell said the trial would begin in December.
Comments