Here’s What Happened This Week With the 23XI/FRM Lawsuit (March 8-14)

The antitrust lawsuit case between 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports versus NASCAR continued this week with a response brief filed by the two race teams. As always, with each of these briefs, we look to see if NASCAR or the teams are able to shed any more light on their perspectives.

The basic argument in the 23XI/FRM response brief filed Friday (March 14) is that the U.S. Court of Appeals should affirm the decision of the lower court that the teams can compete in with the Charter terms.

Here’s what was in this week’s filing:

• The teams argue that NASCAR’s opening brief “can muster only a disagreement with the district court,” and they have not been able to show any “legal error or abuse of discretion.”

• In our update following the district court’s decision to grant the preliminary injunction, the court pointed to concerns from drivers and sponsors regarding their relationship with the team. The recent brief shed a little more light, claiming “a major 23XI [Racing] sponsor revoked one promotion and rescinded an opportunity for a multi-year deal.”

• The brief also officially claimed that NASCAR “informed Front Row that it would reverse its position on approving the transfer of a Stewart-Haas charter to Front Row – unless Front Row dropped this lawsuit and agreed to the Release,” adding that this was “a new example of anticompetitive conduct.”

• They later added that NASCAR “did not want to approve the Stewart-Haas charter sales,” despite previously promising to do so.

• The teams believe NASCAR is only challenging the finding that the teams are likely to succeed on the merits of the case, no other findings made in the preliminary injunction decision are being challenged.

• While those points expanded a little more on previous claims, the teams added an intriguing section regarding the 2025 Daytona 500.

• 23XI/FRM pointed out that, because of the injunction, three cars from both teams raced from guaranteed spots, as opposed to having to compete with open cars, four of whom did not make the race.

• The teams noted their in-race success, with Todd Gilliland and Bubba Wallace earning stage points, and Tyler Reddick finishing the race in second.

• “There is no evidence that the preliminary injunction caused any harm to NASCAR, which hailed the race as a great success.”

• The teams argued that the district court found they “carried their burden no matter what standard applies to the preliminary injunction.”

• The brief notes this preliminary injunction will remain in effect during the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season only, in case anyone was wondering. The trial in the main case is set for Dec. 1.