Major blow for NASCAR teams 23XI and Front Row in charter case
A US court has voted in favour of NASCAR.
The US Court of Appeals in North Carolina has revoked the preliminary injunction which allowed 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to contest the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series as charter teams.
Both squads had refused to sign the new charter agreement in September last year and filed a case against NASCAR, claiming it was violating the US antitrust laws.
Judge Kenneth D. Bell subsequently issued a preliminary injunction in December, allowing both 23XI and FRM to continue to compete as charter teams while the case was going on.
NASCAR had appealed against this in court and on Thursday a three-judge panel voted in favour of the organisation.
“In short, because we have found no support for the proposition that a business entity or person violates the antitrust laws by requiring a prospective participant to give a release for past conduct as a condition for doing business, we cannot conclude that the plaintiffs made a clear showing that they were likely to succeed on the merits of that theory,” Judge Paul V. Neimeyer said
“And without satisfaction of the likelihood-of-success element, the plaintiffs were not entitled to a preliminary injunction.”
Both 23XI and FRM had two pre-existing charters and bought another charter each from Stewart-Haas following the collapse of the team after 2024.
They have two weeks to request another hearing.
Losing the charters would mean 23XI and FRM would have to compete as ‘Open teams’ and essentially qualify for each race.
But crucially, this could result in a major loss of prize money that is exclusive to charter teams.
“We are disappointed by today’s ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and are reviewing the decision to determine our next steps,” attorney Jeffrey Kessler said on behalf of 23XI and FRM. “This ruling is based on a very narrow consideration of whether a release of claims in the charter agreements is anti-competitive and does not impact our chances of winning at trial scheduled for December 1.
“We remain confident in our case and committed to racing for the entirety of this season as we continue our fight to create a fair and just economic system for stock car racing that is free of anticompetitive, monopolistic conduct.”
