This trial could tear NASCAR apart, the judge warned. We’re already seeing why – The Athletic
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — “Everybody is going to get hurt.”
Kenneth D. Bell, the federal judge presiding over the legal showdown between NASCAR and the two race teams suing it, alleging illegal monopolistic practices over a dispute about the sport’s charter system, issued that warning this summer. Many times, in public hearings and behind closed doors, Bell cautioned there would be no winners in the case. His message throughout has been that the only way this case could end on somewhat good terms is for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to find common ground with the league and settle.
Genuine attempts were made to settle, but no deal was ever reached. So, the trial commenced as scheduled Monday.
And in the opening days, Bell’s warning is already coming true, as the initial testimony has revealed a sport full of bitter infighting and financial struggles.
Since Monday, we’ve seen 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin, who is also one of NASCAR’s top drivers and nearly won the 2025 championship, shredding NASCAR’s leadership structure in testimony. His disdain for NASCAR CEO and chairman Jim France was on full display during four hours of testimony, during which he repeatedly said NASCAR was an illegal monopoly that had treated the teams unfairly and offered them a less-than-market-value charter agreement in September 2024 with the threat that they sign or lose their charters, which are worth millions of dollars.
“We want to be made whole for what (NASCAR) did to us,” Hamlin said.
We’ve also seen NASCAR’s lawyers question Hamlin over public comments in support of the same league he’s now suing, and a NASCAR executive, Scott Prime, answering for communications with France over the contentious charter negotiations. Tuesday saw a flurry of messages between NASCAR executives entered into evidence. They were questioning France’s decision-making that ultimately placed the league in this position.
“They are playing with fire.” NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps said in an email to Prime about the teams’ hesitancy over the charter agreement. “Lots of options, but all have the same theme: Pick a date and they can sign or lose their charters. It is that simple.”
Almost assuredly, it will only get messier. How could it not? There will be more animosity, more evidence that paints one party or the other in an unflattering light, and a list of potential witnesses that just happens to include team owner Richard Childress. In an exchange of text messages recently unearthed during the discovery process, Childress was disparaged by Phelps, who said Childress should be “taken out back and flogged” and called him a “stupid redneck who owes his entire fortune to NASCAR.”
Childress said in a statement that he is considering legal action. Whatever Childress decides, by testifying, he may end up twisting the knife deeper into a sanctioning body he has repeatedly said over the years is out to get him.
On Wednesday, Front Row owner Bob Jenkins, widely recognized as one of the most amicable people in the garage, testified and had his finances called into question, which seemingly didn’t sit well with some members of the jury — one member, for instance, leaned forward and shook his head.
“I can assure you it’s not from malpractice,” said Jenkins, who testified that his team hasn’t turned a profit in his more than two decades in the sport. “We’re very frugal.”
Denny Hamlin, left, co-owner of 23XI Racing, and Bob Jenkins, owner of Front Row Motorsports. (Jeff Robinson / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The courtroom spectacle unfolding inside the Potter Courtroom hasn’t just been limited to NASCAR and the teams. At jury selection on Monday, in NASCAR’s own backyard in Charlotte, several prospective jurors said they didn’t even know what NASCAR is. But many of them did know Michael Jordan, sitting in the room as co-owner of 23XI Racing. Some were excused because they said they couldn’t be impartial in the case involving the NBA legend, who retired over 20 years ago but started his rise in North Carolina. One such juror even pointed and winked at Jordan on the way out of the courtroom.
Add everything together, and there is a bit of a circus atmosphere surrounding the proceedings. And not the good kind of circus.
This ugliness could’ve been avoided. In the year-plus since 23XI and Front Row filed their lawsuit, both parties had several paths to end the proceedings. This would’ve allowed each to say that they found common ground for the betterment of the sport, allowing everyone to move forward, united. Instead, their collective heads are bloodied, and the sport could be on the fast track to imploding.
If NASCAR wins, two teams, who’ve poured millions into the sport, will almost assuredly close their doors. And if 23XI and Front Row win, the potential damages to NASCAR could be vast. The league could have to pay as much as a combined $300 million to the teams. It could be forced to divest from the tracks it owns, which make up the bulk of the premier Cup Series schedule. The entire charter system could be invalidated. France could be forced to break apart the league.
The last two potential damages are unlikely to be imposed by Bell, but that this is even possible shows why this situation would’ve been better remedied long before this week.
Yet here NASCAR and 23XI and Front Row are, immersed in a trail of gashing wounds so deep it will leave permanent scars. An ugliness that could’ve been prevented had they heeded Bell’s many warnings.
“Everybody is going to get hurt.”
