After an eight-day legal battle in a federal courtroom in Charlotte, North Carolina, the case of NASCAR v. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports has officially reached a settlement.
The #NASCOURT trial is officially over. Judge Bell says he is pleased with the agreement and feels it will be positive for NASCAR, the teams, the industry, and the fans.
One juror jokingly asked if they’re still being paid for tomorrow, and another danced on his way out.
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) December 11, 2025
The settlement process got started immediately upon arriving at the courthouse on Thursday (December 11), when Judge Bell called for a surprise one-hour recess in the court, telling the jury that sacrificing an hour of their time this morning could result in the salvaging of several hours.
After about 90 minutes of deliberation, Jeffrey Kessler returned to the courtroom and informed Judge Bell that both sides had reached a settlement agreement.
This agreement comes just one day after the Plaintiffs (23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports) rested their case to the jury after calling more than a dozen different witnesses. On Wednesday, NASCAR got the opportunity to start calling its witnesses and did so with John Probst.
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports had the burden of proof in this antitrust trial, and thus had to demonstrate to the jury that NASCAR was using their status as a monopsony to dampen the deal for NASCAR Cup Series teams in the 2025 Charter Agreement.
A potential catalyst for this settlement? A late-night submission from Johnny Morris, owner of long-time NASCAR sponsor Bass Pro Shops, who stood behind Richard Childress (and against NASCAR) after the sanctioning body had text messages from its executives come out in discovery in which they called Childress a “stupid redneck” and said he needed to be “taken out back and flogged”.
During a small speech to the courtroom on Thursday about the settlement, Judge Bell said that this would be better for the sport moving forward. While all of the points of the settlement agreement have been agreed on, both sides still need time to write it out and present it to the judge.
Barring any small procedural hiccups or holdups in the settlement process or any red tape, the NASCAR antitrust trial should finally wrap up on Thursday after eight days, and not continue any further.
With NASCAR, 23XI Racing, and Front Row Motorsports working to get all of the points of the settlement written out and presented to Judge Bell, nothing has yet been confirmed on the points of the settlement. However, as they become available from those in the courtroom, they will be added to the top of this story as an update.
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