Amidst a rather quiet holiday week that featured little NASCAR news, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports’ lawsuit against NASCAR continued to take center stage. Here’s everything that happened with the case this week as you enjoyed Thanksgiving.
- On Tuesday (Nov. 26) the teams re-filed their motion for a preliminary injunction, citing new evidence against NASCAR.
- Jeffrey Kessler, the representative for both teams, said: “Consistent with Judge Whitney’s earlier ruling, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are submitting a second preliminary injunction to the court with new evidence. My clients are also seeking this relief to strike down the release language that NASCAR removed from its open agreements but still maintains in its charter agreements as part of its monopolistic control. I’m confident the court will act to protect the clients from NASCAR’s anti-competitive conduct.”
- While the new circumstances surrounding the filing were redacted, Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass cited that difficulties with sponsor commitments and the ability to close on the purchase of a charter from Stewart-Haas Racing are among the new circumstances arising in the injunction.
- According to Pockrass, the deadline requests surrounding this new filing are as follows:
NASCAR response: Dec. 9 (23XI, FRM want Dec. 6)
Teams’ reply: Dec. 10 (NASCAR wants Dec. 11)
Hearing: Teams wants Dec. 12 or 13, NASCAR wants the hearing to be held at the court’s discretion.
- NASCAR’s response called out 23XI and FRM for filing the injunction on Tuesday, saying the teams put NASCAR “on the clock” during the holiday week. NASCAR also said that “the court should reject this orchestrated urgency.” NASCAR said the teams knew well before Tuesday that they would re-file for an injunction.
A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.