The antitrust trial between NASCAR and the two Cup Series teams, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, will move to a courtroom in Charlotte next Monday. The sanctioning body has filed a long exhibit list ahead of the trial.
The exhibit list covers the new Charter Agreement, the sport's financial structure, media-rights deals, and driver contracts. It also lists 23XI and co-owner Michael Jordan's assets. The 58-page exhibit includes photographs of the NBA legend's yacht (Catch 23) and 23XI's headquarters (Airspeed). The team's "Google of race shops" is a 114,000-square-foot building in Huntersville.
Among the over 900 items in the exhibit are 30 handwritten notes by co-owner Curtis Polk. This suggests that NASCAR intends to scrutinize the wealth and internal communications of the team.
The plaintiffs, 23XI and FRM, filed their own exhibit list that runs about 44 pages. It includes 778 exhibits grouped into eight categories. These include charter negotiations, financial records, media-rights materials, and sanction agreements.
It also highlights unsealed emails and texts and sensitive compensation records tied to NASCAR leadership. The plaintiffs placed CEO Jim France's wage and tax statement, 1099 form documents that include payments from non-employers, and tax returns on their exhibit list.
These items suggest that the teams also plan to make financial arrangements part of their case.
NASCAR teams filed the anti-trust lawsuit against the sanctioning body in October 2024 and complained that the new charter system gave certain teams unfair control and that the system prevented fair competition in the sport.
The lawsuit triggered a countersuit by NASCAR in March, which argued that the case was put to renegotiate an agreement that most teams already accepted. But a federal judge dismissed the counterclaim in October, and NASCAR issued a short response. They said they disagreed with the ruling's reasoning, and they may appeal.
The legal fight has taken on multiple layers and revealed multiple international documents in recent weeks. One of which might cause another lawsuit against NASCAR. In unsealed texts from 2023, NASCAR executive Steve Phelps called Richard Childress a "stupid redneck" and said he needed "to be taken out back and flogged." The harsh language followed a public radio comment from Childress criticizing NASCAR's new car costs and media-rights deals. Richard Childress Racing later released a statement saying that they are weighing legal action for the insensitive messages.
Financial reports also revealed NASCAR's billions of dollars in revenue and millions in profits in the past years, while teams struggled to make a profit. Only three teams made a profit, and teams averaged about $2.2M loss per car in 2024, according to reports.