-
NASCAR has filed a countersuit against Michael Jordan’s racing team 23XI Racing
-
The organization accuses Jordan’s team and Front Row Motorsports of “interfering with” negotiations and “threatening boycotts of NASCAR events”
-
23XI and Front Row filed a lawsuit against NASCAR in October, calling them “monopolistic bullies”
NASCAR has filed a countersuit against Michael Jordan’s racing team, 23XI Racing, and co-owner Curtis Polk, according to documents obtained by the Athletic and the Associated Press.
The suit was filed on Wednesday, March 5, claiming that Jordan’s team and Polk, as well as the Front Raw Motorsports team, “willfully” violated antitrust laws, and accuses the defendants of “interfering with NASCAR’s broadcast agreement negotiations, threatening boycotts of NASCAR events and engaging in a group boycott of a NASCAR Team Owner Council Meeting,” per the outlet’s report.
NASCAR is calling the defendants “an illegal cartel” and alleges that Polk — who has served as Jordan’s business manager for years — was leading the scheme by “threatening teams that considered leaving the conspiracy.”
Related: Who Is Michael Jordan’s Wife? All About Yvette Prieto
NASCAR attorney Chris Yates told the Athletic that the organization is not looking for a settlement in court, but instead asking for triple in damages and the “elimination” of 23XI and Front Row Motorsports’ guaranteed starting positions in the Cup Series if the legal dispute continues its attempt to abolish its charter agreements.
Yates told the outlet, “The deal is the deal,” and added, “Front Row and 23XI may think that by suing NASCAR, they can achieve better terms. But that is not NASCAR’s intent at all.”
According to the Athletic, Yates said “numerous times” during the proceedings that the members of the Race Team Alliance, including additional team ownership groups who were not accused in the suit, were behaving like “a cartel.”
The lawsuit only accuses 23XI and Front Row Motorsports, and excludes any additional team owners, because the two teams were the only to not sign the 2025 charter agreement,
Front Row Motorsports, owned by restaurant entrepreneur Bob Jenkins, and 23XI’s attorney Jeffrey Kessler issued a statement to the Athletic after the filing, calling NASCAR’s countersuit “a meritless distraction” and a “desperate attempt to shift attention away from its own unlawful, monopolistic actions.”
PEOPLE has reached out to representatives for Jordan and NASCAR for comment.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
NASCAR’s counter was filed in response to a federal suit by 23XI and Front Row filed in October 2024. The suit accused NASCAR of “anticompetitive and exclusionary practices,” PEOPLE reported at the time.
“The France family and NASCAR are monopolistic bullies,” the teams claimed in the lawsuit. “And bullies will continue to impose their will to hurt others until their targets stand up and refuse to be victims. That moment has now arrived.”
Related: Michael Jordan’s Racing Team Joins Lawsuit Against NASCAR Calling the Organization ‘Monopolistic Bullies’
In a statement to PEOPLE at the time, Kessler said, “Every major sport goes through a moment when it needs to be transformed — when the people who are being treated unfairly stand up and say it’s time for change. This is NASCAR’s moment, and that change is what we want from this case.”
Jordan and Front Row’s suit stems from their argument that NASCAR generally pressures teams to “go along with NASCAR’s revenue sharing model because it’s the only major league option available to them” and they noted a number of instances that they allege show how NASCAR’s revenue sharing system has unfairly compensated successful teams, pointing out that only eight of the 19 teams that originally signed on for NASCAR’s revenue sharing system under its 2016 charter agreement remain in business.
“If they prevail, the charter system likely goes away,” NASCAR attorney Chris Yates told the Athletic.
A jury trial has been set for the lawsuit against NASCAR on Dec. 1.
Read the original article on People
Read the full article here