RICHMOND, Va. — A three-judge federal appellate panel indicated Friday it might overturn an injunction that allows 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to compete as chartered teams in NASCAR’s top-tier Cup Series this season while the two organizations sue the stock-car sanctioning body for alleged antitrust violations.
NASCAR attorney Chris Yates argued the injunction, granted in December by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell of the Western District of North Carolina, forced the series into an unwanted relationship with unwilling partners. Yates also said it harms other teams because they earn less money.
Yates said the district court broke precedent by granting the injunction, saying the “release” clause in the charter contracts forbidding the teams from suing is “common.” He argued, essentially, that the teams should not have the benefits of the charter system they are suing to overturn.
Overturning the injunction would leave the two organizations able to race but without any of the perks of being chartered, including guaranteed weekly revenue. They would also have to qualify at every Cup Series race to make the field, which currently has only four open spots for each points race; 23XI and Front Row are each running three cars in Cup Series competition this season.
Judges Steven Agee, Paul Niemeyer and Stephanie Thacker, at multiple points during the 50-minute hearing at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth District, pushed back on the argument made by plaintiffs’ attorney Jeffrey Kessler, who accused NASCAR of being a monopoly.