A new response in the NASCAR lawsuit from 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports sets us up for the hearing this week. The court will rule on the preliminary injunction request from the teams. This could shift the momentum of the litigation back to the teams again.
Ahead of the preliminary injunction hearing on Thursday, the teams have filed two new documents. The first clarifies what they are seeking from the injunction. They state what their requests are from the court, should they rule in favor of the teams.
The second filing is a reply in further support of the motion for a preliminary injunction. It basically outlines the argument the teams have for why they deserve the injunction. So, we have the demands, essentially, and the evidence that supports why the injunction should be granted.
The teams want a preliminary injunction that does the following:
– Prevents NASCAR and its representatives and agents from “selling, transferring, assigning, leasing, conveying or otherwise disposing of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Charter Member Agreements belonging to the #23, #35, #45, #4, #34, and #38 cars.”
– Forces NASCAR to allow 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports three race cars each (six total) in all Cup Series races with the rights and obligations of fully chartered teams.
Now, that is pretty simple. As for the arguments supporting their request for the injunction, the teams went into detail in the second filing. That document opens with some rather strong language.
“NASCAR’s Opposition is a brazen effort to deny reality and avoid addressing the overwhelming evidence of its unlawful maintenance of monopsony power through anticompetitive acts in the input market for premier stock car racing. It is striking in its failure to even address most of the smoking-gun documents that admit NASCAR viewed competitive entry as a threat to its monopsony and the express anticompetitive purpose for NASCAR’s exclusionary acts to block such entry.
“It also has no answer for the internal NASCAR documents with top executives describing how NASCAR used its monopsony power to impose a one-sided, [redacted] deal, reflecting a [redacted] that the teams would have to accept, [redacted]. And after asking for time to address Plaintiffs’ expert evidence, NASCAR barely discusses it. [Redacted]. NASCAR can ignore the devastating evidence against it, but it cannot hide from its impact, which is to easily satisfy Plaintiffs’ burden of proving a likelihood of success on the merits.”
The argument is relatively simple for 23XI Racing and Front Row. They argue that they are “likely to succeed in showing NASCAR’s monopsony power and exclusionary conduct.” They also argue that they the plaintiffs “have established irreparable harm.” Finally, the teams argue “the balance of equities strongly favors preliminary injunctive relief.”
Right now, NASCAR has a lot of control. The sanctioning body states that it plans to sell at least one charter to an undisclosed team/team owner. Time will tell if the courts allow that to happen during litigation. Just in time for the NASCAR Playoffs.
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