NASCAR punches back with its own antitrust suit against Michael Jordan team

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CN) — NASCAR filed a countersuit Wednesday against Front Row Motorsports and Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing, turning antitrust accusations back on the teams that sued the racing body late last year.

In the new suit, NASCAR claims that the teams and 23XI’s owner and sports agent Curtis Polk “engaged in a conspiracy and agreement in unreasonable restraint of interstate trade and commerce,” violating the Sherman Act, the same antitrust regulation the teams originally sued over.

“23XI, Front Row, Polk, and others agreed to a scheme to pressure NASCAR to accept their collusive terms, including by engaging in media campaigns, interfering with NASCAR’s broadcast agreement negotiations, threatening boycotts of NASCAR events, and engaging in a group boycott of a NASCAR Team Owner Council Meeting,” NASCAR claims in its countersuit.

The teams, one of which is partially owned by basketball legend Jordan, sued the company in October 2024, claiming that NASCAR and its CEO James France are violating the antitrust laws. The teams objected to NASCAR requiring them to sign so-called charter agreements, which they argue are anticompetitive. The racing company has a monopoly on the industry, the teams say, and has restrained competition, forcing them to work with NASCAR or leave stock car racing altogether.

The teams had declined to sign a new agreement the month before, saying they didn’t like the terms or that the new agreement would bar them from suing NASCAR. A federal judge requiredNASCAR to allow the teams to enter two cars in all NASCAR Cup series races this season as charter teams, without signing an agreement that waives their legal claims.

Chris Yates, an attorney representing NASCAR, said Wednesday in a news conference that the Sherman Act prohibits horizontal competitors from working together to stifle competition.

“If we’re talking about how much 23XI and Front Row were paying their pit crews, for example, they couldn’t agree on that, and they can’t agree on how much they want to receive from NASCAR,” Yates said.

He said the teams joined the Race Team Alliance to push for more beneficial terms under the 2025 charter negotiation, boycotted a meeting with NASCAR required under the 2016 charter agreements and other actions that amounted to antitrust violations.

“Counterclaim defendants engaged in active threats and coercive behavior in order to maintain their per se illegal cartel,” NASCAR said, claiming that Polk coordinated teams to put pressure on NASCAR to make terms more favorable to them, and threatened teams that wanted to leave the Race Team Alliance.

NASCAR did not sue other teams who also supposedly boycotted a mandated meeting. Yates said he doesn’t expect other teams to get involved in the legal action, as they have entered into charter agreements with NASCAR.

NASCAR emphasized in its filing that it is willing to return to an open racing qualifying structure; it says it provided the charter system after teams asked for a method that provided guaranteed entry. The teams’ decision to sue threatens the charter system for all participants, NASCAR said, along with exclusivities that benefit both parties.

Yates said that the teams and Polk are misusing antitrust laws to try to force a renegotiation, which NASCAR is not open to since all other participating teams have already signed charter agreements.

“NASCAR, again, does not want to be in litigation with teams. It wants to work with teams to grow the sport,” said Yates. “And I don’t know if 23XI and Front Row truly want to grow the sport.”

He said that while the parties will participate in court-required mediation proceedings, he doesn’t see a path toward settlement and expects to go to trial in December.

Jeffrey Kessler, attorney for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports said, “My clients’ lawsuit has always been about transforming NASCAR into a more competitive and fair sport for the benefit of drivers, fans, sponsors and teams because of their love of the sport.

“Every major sport goes through a transition to competition when antitrust claims are asserted, and that moment has come for NASCAR. Today’s baseless filing changes nothing. We are confident in the strength of our case and look forward to presenting it at trial.”

The case is also pending before the Fourth Circuit, which is expected to hear oral arguments in May, after NASCAR appealed Donald Trump appointee U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell’s decision to require the teams to compete as charter teams.

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