Judge Urges NASCAR and 23XI Racing to Settle Charter Dispute

According to AP News, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell, presiding over the Western District of North Carolina, held a nearly two-hour hearing Tuesday in which he pressed both sides to reconsider their approach to the escalating anti trust case. The dispute centers on NASCAR’s charter system — a key component of its franchise model — and the refusal of two teams, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, to sign a new agreement issued last fall.

23XI Racing, co-owned by Jordan and veteran driver Denny Hamlin, and Front Row, led by businessman Bob Jenkins, were the only holdouts among NASCAR’s chartered teams when a new deal was presented in September 2024. As reported by AP News, 13 other teams accepted the agreement, though some claimed they had little room for negotiation.

“It’s hard to picture a winner if this goes to the mat — or to the flag — in this case,” Judge Bell stated during the proceedings. “It scares me to death to think about what all this is costing.”

Related: Hamlin Remains Confident in 23XI, Front Row Antitrust Case Against NASCAR

The hearing focused on a motion from the two teams to dismiss NASCAR’s countersuit, which alleges that Curtis Polk — Jordan’s longtime business manager and a key figure in the negotiations — engaged in anticompetitive conduct. Per AP News, NASCAR claims Polk coordinated behind-the-scenes efforts among all 15 charter-holding teams to collectively reject individual negotiations, even raising the prospect of a boycott.

One particularly contentious point arose when a NASCAR attorney cited a quote Polk allegedly sent to the group: “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately” — a line attributed to Benjamin Franklin. NASCAR argues this and other messages point to an effort to form a “cartel” that undermined fair competition.

The disclosure sparked immediate backlash from the teams’ legal team. Jeffrey Kessler, representing the plaintiffs, argued the quoted message was extracted from privileged communications and should not have been publicly revealed. He further asserted that NASCAR’s allegations fail to prove any unlawful behavior, maintaining that coordinated bargaining is a standard tactic in business negotiations.

Judge Bell’s comments throughout the hearing emphasized the potential damage of allowing the case to go to trial, both financially and reputationally for all parties involved. He urged the sides to seek a resolution outside of court before the dispute becomes even more entrenched.