Back in October, two Cup Series teams filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR over its charter system, pitting Ford team Front Row Motorsports (FRM) and Toyota-backed 23XI Racing against the sport’s sanctioning body. Since then, both teams have been excluded from the charter agreement and will race in 2025 as “open” teams. Following a second injunction filing in November, NASCAR has now motioned to dismiss the lawsuit.
A recent report from Sportsnaut states that NASCAR is arguing that FRM and 23XI do not have proof or merits that their antitrust case is legitimate. The sport’s sanctioning body argues that there would be a statute of limitations regarding the language of the prior charter agreement, which was written in 2016.
FRM and 23XI, meanwhile, continue to argue that said charter agreement effectively eliminated the opportunity for competing team owners to band together and form their own racing circuit. This, in turn, has made NASCAR a monopoly. FRM and 23XI were not happy with the latest charter agreement and refused to sign it. They instead opted to fight what they felt was an unfair proposal.
NASCAR’s attorney, Chris Yates, penned the filing to dismiss stating, “Stripped of its bluster, Plaintiffs’ Complaint reflects nothing more than dissatisfaction with business negotiations that didn’t go their way.”
The filing continues, “And the careful wording of this paragraph is revealing; Plaintiffs cannot even allege that the 2016 Charter owners were the most likely people or entities to start a competing circuit, only that they are the most likely racing team owners who might do so. Plaintiffs simply are not the efficient enforcers of this claim.”
Both teams rounded out the 2024 season with two chartered entries and purchase agreements with former NASCAR Ford team Stewart-Haas Racing for a third entry each. Though NASCAR removed a clause that would have otherwise prevented both teams from competing while actively engaged in a lawsuit against the sanctioning body, neither team will move forward as chartered entries in 2025.
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I am betting that sanity will return just before the Daytona 500. These two teams will realize that they are NOT guaranteed a spot in the 500 and if they fail to qualify their sponsors would not be happy.