NASCAR may be having an epiphany at the moment. Over the past two years of negotiation with the Race Team Alliance, the stock car racing body had the upper hand. Dealing with a fragmented Cup Series garage was easy. When 13 of 15 teams signed the 2025 charter agreement, that lack of unity was apparent. Even after 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed the NASCAR lawsuit, the France family’s sport seemed to have the most leverage.

But now, the tables have turned. Federal Judge Kenneth Bell replaced Judge Frank Whitney a few days ago, and Stewart-Haas Racing also hopped into the lawsuit. These dominoes had to fall before the court finally ruled in favor of Michael Jordan. Presently, the future looks a tad bit bleak for the France family.

NASCAR lawsuit may uncover France family’s assets

The primary objective of the NASCAR lawsuit was to prove the sport’s ‘monopolistic practices.’ These were in the form of exclusive ownership of International Speedway Corporation’s venues since 2019, not allowing teams to compete in rival series, and acquisition of the ARCA Menards Series. To prove the France family’s unfair domination in the sport, Michael Jordan and Co. sought an ‘expedited discovery’ of relevant documents and files. These would belong to the entire NASCAR executive fold – NASCAR CEO Jim France, Lesa France Kennedy, Ben Kennedy, Steve O’Donnell, Steve Phelps, and Scott Prime. Judge Whitney had turned down this request along with the preliminary injunction motion in early November.

However, now the situation has changed significantly. Judge Kenneth Bell has already made the first move in favor of Michael Jordan – by accepting their second preliminary injunction request. In a recent video, Eric Estepp outlined how this may lay down the next steps of the NASCAR lawsuit. “Now that they have been granted financial security for at least next year, they can keep fighting. They’re probably feeling emboldened, empowered to keep fighting… The discovery stage of this case – will force NASCAR and the France family to make many of their private financial records public. We’ll all get to see who makes what, where the money has been going,how much certain things cost.” 

The discovery of crucial financial documents may or may not be harmful to the France family in the NASCAR lawsuit. What we do know for sure is that now they have reason to be worried. Estepp continued: “The France family does not want those records to be made public… NASCAR is feeling immense pressure… to sit back down with the teams, negotiate new terms, settle. Suddenly, NASCAR does not seem to have the leverage they’ve had before… Over the past two years, throughout much of the charter negotiation process, it felt like NASCAR had the most leverage – the teams were fragmented… but with this decision… the pendulum has certainly swung back in the direction of the teams.”

One important disadvantage for the sanctioning body is public favor – which tilts toward Jordan.

The absence would have been too glaring

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If Michael Jordan and Co. failed their motion, their future would have darkened. Both 23XI and FRM would have had to compete as open teams with considerably truncated race schedules. As a cultural icon and a 6-time NBA champion, Jordan brings immense visibility to NASCAR. When 23XI Racing debuted in 2020, Jordan’s name alone boosted TV ratings and brought millions of new eyes to the sport. This year, it reinforced its name as a top-tier team as Tyler Reddick clinched the regular season title and cracked the Championship 4. Even Front Row has booked a promising driver from SHR, Noah Gragson, to drive in 2025.

So depriving these star teams of their growth in the sport would have severely impacted fan reception. Judge Kenneth Bell included this point among others in his verdict on the preliminary injunction ruling. “NASCAR fans (and members of the public who may become fans) have an interest in watching all the teams compete with their best drivers and most competitive teams,” the judge wrote. “Further, the public has an interest in preserving the rights of litigants to pursue legal claims in good faith, particularly antitrust claims that aim to preserve the process of commercial competition.”

Evidently, the sport lost this round against Jordan in the NASCAR lawsuit. Now, dim prospects arise for the France family as their 76-year-old tradition is at stake.