The counter-argument is getting stronger by the day. When 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports stayed out of the 2025 NASCAR charter signing, they were alone. 13 of 15 Cup Series teams signed, with a few claiming they were ‘coerced’ to do so and ‘under duress.’ The two rebellious teams filed a lawsuit against the France family and NASCAR in October. The results of the same have tilted towards the latter until recently – when Stewart-Haas Racing got heavily involved.

Tony Stewart’s premier Cup Series team announced its closure in May this season, putting an end to 16 years of stellar racing. This 2-time champion team has found itself at the mercy of a tremendous financial loss. Accordingly, it has also picked a side in the NASCAR lawsuit.

Stewart-Haas Racing joins the guns aimed at NASCAR

This over two-month-old litigation pitted billionaire NBA legend Michael Jordan against multi-billion dollar enterprise NASCAR. The main bone of contention was economic decadence wrought by ‘monopolistic practices’ on the part of NASCAR. The arguments on the part of Jordan and his fold included exclusive ownership of racetracks by the France family, denial of permanent charters to teams, and also hogging bigger slices of the media rights deal. Tony Stewart’s team washed its hands of this fiasco by exiting at the end of this season. However, Stewart-Haas Racing cannot get respite until the sanctioning body loses the first round of the lawsuit.

23XI and FRM’s initial preliminary injunction was turned down due to lack of evidence for ‘irreparable harm.’ However, in their second request, they have stronger evidence – both teams bought charters from Stewart-Haas Racing, and NASCAR apparently approved the sales in telephonic conversations. Now SHR president Joe Custer strengthened this argument. “NASCAR officials conveyed to me on more than one occasion that once the Buyers submitted their Transfer Approval Forms and signed their respective Joinder Agreements, NASCAR would promptly provide the necessary approvals to transfer the Charter Agreements to the Buyers,” said Custer.

This comes after Jerry Freeze, FRM’s General Manager, unveiled NASCAR’s President Steve Phelps’ phone call with him. According to his claim, the SHR charter purchase was already approved, and NASCAR awaited the submission of ‘customary transfer documents’. “On September 11th, 2024, I had a telephone conversation with NASCAR President Steve Phelps. During that conversation, Phelps volunteered that Front Row was already approved for the SHR charter transfer and only needed to submit the customary transfer documents,” said Freeze.

However, Phelps redacted his stance on December 2nd, NASCAR Youtuber Eric Estepp reported this in his video, as Freeze claimed: “NASCAR made it clear that the reason it was now changing course and objecting to the transfer is because NASCAR is insisting that we drop the lawsuit and antitrust claims against it as a condition of being approved. NASCAR’s refusal to approve the transfer is causing irreparable harm to Front Row.” 

With Stewart-Haas Racing onboard, the lawsuit is growing more intense. And Michael Jordan and Co. intend to make it so.

Cutting responses from the plaintiffs

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Jordan’s lawsuit looked like it would fall apart upon NASCAR’s round of attacks on December 3rd. The sanctioning body asked the federal court to dismiss the case. It argued that the lawsuit’s main cause was ‘dissatisfaction with business negotiations that didn’t go their way’. However, 23XI and FRM’s counter-argument has been strong, as they cited the several anti-competitive methods that NASCAR has used. For instance, the Next-Gen car can only be constructed using components mandated by the sanctioning body. Also, the race teams are not allowed to compete in other racing divisions without the France family’s approval.

So the plaintiffs offered their rejoinder: “The below competitive market terms of the 2025 Charter Agreements, like the 2016 Agreements, have deprived racing teams of a fair chance to earn a profit.” They also added, “Plaintiffs’ Complaint alleges that, since 2018, James France has used his ownership and control over NASCAR to direct NASCAR’s unlawful actions to erect barriers to entry and exclude any competition. It also alleges that he directed NASCAR to use its unlawfully maintained monopsony to impose below market terms on Plaintiffs and other racing teams.” These allegations will be heard by the new federal judge appointed for the case, Judge Kenneth Bell.

Now with Stewart-Haas Racing having their back, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have better chances. Let us wait and see how the NASCAR lawsuit unfolds next.