Settlement Reached In NASCAR Antitrust Lawsuit On The Ninth Day Of Trial

Should have happened months ago.

In case you somehow missed it, NASCAR has been in court the past week and a half defending themselves from an antitrust lawsuit filed by two teams, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.

The antitrust lawsuit accuses NASCAR of using unlawful conduct to protect its monopoly on premier stock car racing, with the teams taking issue with (among other things) the charter deal offered by the series back in 2024 and the fact that NASCAR owns the majority of the tracks it races at, while having exclusivity agreements with those tracks to prevent a viable competitor series from forming.

It’s been an explosive couple of weeks, and at times has been pretty embarrassing for NASCAR and its executives.

Before the trial even started, text messages were revealed between NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps calling team owner Richard Childress a “stupid redneck” and that he needs to be “taken out back and flogged.”

And during the trial, Phelps and other NASCAR executives have been forced to face team owners like Childress and Joe Gibbs Racing President Heather Gibbs who testified that NASCAR “had a gun to their head” and forced them to sign a charter agreement that they felt was unfair by sending them an agreement and forcing them to sign it within hours while threatening to take their charters if they didn’t agree.

It’s a big mess for NASCAR, made worse by the fact that 23XI is owned by one of the most famous athletes in the world, Michael Jordan, who testified in the trial late last week.

No matter who wins, the lawsuit and trial have done serious damage to NASCAR’s public perception, especially after seeing communications from NASCAR executives that shows them seemingly working against – and insulting – the teams that it relies on week in and week out to put on a show.

But today, after nine days of testimony that included Denny Hamlin, Michael Jordan, Richard Childress, and NASCAR CEO Jim France, the teams were finally able to reach a settlement and bring the case to an end.

The settlement was announced after the parties entered court this morning and met with Judge Kenneth Bell, who then sent the jury back into the room and told them that he was going to “sacrifice an hour” of their time to hopefully save them several hours.

After about an hour, the parties returned to the courtroom and 23XI Racing lawyer Jeffrey Kessler announced that the two sides have “positively settled” the case “in a way that will benefit the industry going forward.”

In praising the settlement, Bell told the jury that the result waas “great for NASCAR the entity, for NASCAR the industry, teams, drivers and ultimately for the fans.”

The terms of the settlement haven’t yet been fully disclosed, 23XI attorney Jeffrey Kessler confirmed that NASCAR has agreed to permanent (or “evergreen”) charters as a part of the deal.

The teams were also asking for a seat at the table when it comes to any decisions made by NASCAR, something the sport removed from the last charter agreement, so it will be interesting to see whether they were able to get their voice heard on that too.

As for what it means for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, it was also confirmed that they’ll get their charters back after losing them when they refused to sign the agreement. (There’s no way the teams would have signed on to an agreement that would have effectively put them out of business).

We’ll have to wait and see, but either way, this was a long overdue result that seems like it could have been reached months ago if NASCAR had negotiated in good faith all along. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the settlement comes the day after Jim France was forced to testify, after he was largely absent himself from meetings with teams during the negotiations of the charter agreement.

I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that the settlement comes the day after Johnny Morris, founder of Bass Pro Shops, which is one of the largest sponsors in the sport, released a blistering letter calling out NASCAR for the way they treat the teams, particularly their comments on Richard Childress. I said in my article yesterday that his letter likely scares NASCAR more than anything that’s been said lately:

Hopefully this means good things for the sport going forward, and hopefully NASCAR now focuses on repairing its relationship with teams and fans after the damage that’s been caused by this lawsuit.The post Settlement Reached In NASCAR Antitrust Lawsuit On The Ninth Day Of Trial first appeared on Whiskey Riff.