What a time to be NASCAR.
We’re just days away from the start of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Playoffs that a very vocal portion of its fan base despises with the intensity of 1,000 Jimmy Spencers.
So, of course, the Thursday (Aug. 28) before the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway happened to be a court date.
Yes, lawyers for NASCAR and 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports once again trudged into a federal court room in Charlotte, N.C., for another day of slinging dirt and mud in a lawsuit that could change the sport forever.
But this day was different, my friends. This time, each side brought what the cool kids call receipts.
They came in form of what I can only assume were detailed PowerPoint presentations.
We’ve reached the point in the proceedings where some of the documentation each side has been able to dig up through the process called discovery is finally making its way into the public.
Text messages. Emails. Everybody’s dirty laundry is now being aired out.
Like the fact NASCAR at least has given some thought to buying Speedway Motorsports.
Now, context is key. We have no idea the circumstances that went into this creation of this specific document or even when it was made.
But its existence is a bullet in the chamber for the argument that NASCAR is a monopoly.
However, that was the point of today’s courtroom drama. Each side presenting evidence they think helps their argument, while hurting the other side.
Because of NASCAR, we now know Denny Hamlin‘s real feelings about the France family.
On the flip side — and thanks to a clarification from Bob Pockrass — we know Steve O’Donnell actually thought a draft of a charter proposal was bad for race teams and needed to be improved.
Context is everything!
Isn’t this fun? I mean, fun for everybody but NASCAR. Days like this are catnip for journalists.
However, the real fun isn’t supposed to begin until Dec. 1, the scheduled start date for the trial if it ever gets to that point.
When you get down to it, even today’s proceedings were a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
No one has testified. NASCAR and Michael Jordan’s financial statements haven’t been displayed for all of us to ogle over.
But we do know what His Airness called Joe Gibbs Racing after it signed the charter agreement.
We also know that a frustrated Steve Phelps at one point told O’Donnell and EVP Scott Prime to “give them the (contract), pick a date and sign it or lose their charters.”
Which is, ultimately, what happened when NASCAR presented teams with the charter agreement and gave them hours to sign it, or else.
According to The Athletic, Prime wrote to other executives that “we have all the leverage and the teams will almost have to sign whatever terms we put in front of them.”
Hmm …
However, maybe the best part of Thursday’s hearing came from the judge overseeing the case, U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell.
Bell, according to The Athletic, told both parties that “way too much (had been) sealed” in the case and everything that had been redacted so far would be put out into the open.
“This is going to be an open and public trial,” Bell said.
Only if no one blinks before Dec. 1.
I hope both sides stock up on Visine.
Daniel McFadin is a 10-year veteran of the NASCAR media corp. He wrote for NBC Sports from 2015 to October 2020. He currently works full time for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and is lead reporter and an editor for Frontstretch. He is also host of the NASCAR podcast "Dropping the Hammer with Daniel McFadin" presented by Democrat-Gazette.
You can email him at danielmcfadin@gmail.com.