CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Front Row Motorsports, one of two teams suing NASCAR in federal court, has accused the stock car sanctioning body and racing series of rejecting the planned purchase of a valuable charter unless the lawsuit was dropped.
Front Row made the claim in a court filing Thursday and said it involved its proposed purchase of the charter from Stewart-Haas Racing. Front Row said the series would only approve it if Front Row and 23XI Racing dropped their court case.
“Specifically, NASCAR informed us that it would not approve the (charter) transfer unless we agreed to drop our current antitrust lawsuit against them,” Jerry Freeze, general manager of Front Row, said in an affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court of Western North Carolina.
In September, both of those teams refused to sign NASCAR’s nonnegotiable final offer on a new revenue sharing agreement. All other 13 teams currently competing in the Cup Series signed the deal.
Front Row and 23XI balked and are now in court. Michael Jordan, a co-owner for 23XI, has said he took the fight to court on behalf of all teams competing in the top motorsports series in the United States. NASCAR has argued that the two teams simply do not like the terms of the final charter agreement and asked for the lawsuit be dismissed.