The antitrust lawsuit case between 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports versus NASCAR took a week off after NASCAR won its appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit. However, the back-and-forth continued, both in district court and at the appellate level.
Here’s a breakdown of what happened this week.
- On June 16 (Mon.), NASCAR filed materials under seal that related to the Race Team Alliance (RTA) in district court.
- RTA also filed a submission in response to NASCAR, saying they “produced around 8,500 documents totaling over 50,000 pages,” including emails, text messages, and other files after being served a subpoena by NASCAR.
- According to the RTA, they have offered – despite additional burden – to produce more messages to hopefully avoid a discovery dispute with NASCAR.
- The RTA said they made an offer on Thursday (June 12), and “NASCAR rejected it on Friday and said it would not discuss further with the RTA – either the RTA would accept NASCAR’s position, or it would go to the Court.”
- NASCAR tagged on its own response to the court order regarding discovery disputes with the RTA, claiming there are more text messages that have been deleted and it would not add a burden to the RTA.
- On Tuesday (June 17), a district court hearing took place on whether or not NASCAR’s countersuit should be dismissed.
- During the hearing, Judge Kenneth D. Bell issued another plea for the teams and NASCAR to work a deal out.
- A notice on June 17 also notes that a discovery hearing will take place on June 24 at 2 p.m.
- The following day, June 18, NASCAR asked the court to order the racing teams not involved in the lawsuit to produce “ordinary course financial statements from 2020 to the present.”
- NASCAR subpoenaed the non-party race teams in April, narrowing its request for documents relating to costs, revenues and profits, saying “these team financial documents are critical to NASCAR’s defense.” The non-party teams declined, despite various proposals from NASCAR.
- NASCAR added that “omitting these revenues would leave out a major component of the industry revenue” that 23XI/FRM have identified as an issue.
- NASCAR asks that the court requires the non-party racing teams to compel this financial information by June 26, “or rule that such information is irrelevant.”
- An interesting notice on June 20 (Friday) appeared in district court, as counsel for non-party Richard Childress Racing Enterprises Inc. made notice of appearance.
- In the appellate court on June 20, 23XI/FRM asked for a rehearing of the appeal that ultimately went in favor of NASCAR.
- The request is that the court would hear it en banc, which asks that all of the judges hear the case, not just a smaller panel. According to Courthouse News Service, these types of hearings are uncommon, and the Fourth Circuit only does one or two every year.
23XI/Front Row are asking the entire Court of Appeals (not just the three-member panel) to rehear the preliminary injunction decision. Attorney Jeffrey Kessler released this statement on their filing today. pic.twitter.com/gotBILQ8FZ
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) June 20, 2025
Caleb began sports writing in 2023 with The Liberty Champion, where he officially covered his first NASCAR race at Richmond in the spring. While there, Caleb met some of the guys from Frontstretch, and he joined the video editing team after graduating from Liberty University with degrees in Strategic Communications and Sports Journalism. Caleb currently work full-time as a Multi-Media Journalist with LEX 18 News in Lexington, Kentucky and contributes to Frontstretch with writing and video editing. He's also behind-the-scenes or on camera for the Happy Hour Podcast, live every Tuesday night at 7:30!