Here’s What Happened This Week With the 23XI/FRM Vs. NASCAR Lawsuit (Dec. 7-Dec. 13)

It may be the holiday season, but neither NASCAR nor 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports seem to be in the holiday spirit, as their lawsuit continued with multiple happenings as the antitrust suit continued into this week.

Here’s what happened Dec. 7-13.

• NASCAR filed its response to the recent injunction brought forth by FRM and 23XI on Monday, Dec. 9, the deadline to do so.

• The sanctioning body stated that, “Even with their manufactured evidence, Plaintiffs still fall far short of a clear showing of irreparable harm. Their new submissions underscore that any claimed harm remains speculative, self-inflicted, and redressable with monetary damages.”

• NASCAR maintains in its filing that the teams’ drivers will not actually leave their respective organizations even if they aren’t charted.

• Come Dec. 11, a new judge was issued in the case. Judge Frank Whitney was replaced by judge Kenneth Bell.

• Whitney had initially announced that he would recuse himself from the case but remained the judge in the case after 23XI and FRM deemed his departure unnecessary.

• On Thursday (Dec. 12), Jerry Freeze, GM of FRM, said that Steve Phelps told him that the transfer of a Stewart-Haas Racing charter to Front Row Motorsports was approved, though NASCAR is now saying the team must drop the lawsuit in order for said transfer to go through.

• The filing on also included an affidavit from Joe Custer, in which he said he was told that the charter transfer were going to be completed.

• The next filing is due Dec. 16, with the teams needing to respond to NASCAR’s latest motion to dismiss.