CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A federal judge on Wednesday denied two NASCAR teams a preliminary injunction in their antitrust suit against the stock-car racing series and sanctioning body to be recognized as chartered teams for the remainder of the season.
Judge Kenneth Bell of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina said there was no reason to issue 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports the injunction because NASCAR last Friday vowed not to sell the six charters the teams previously held — three each — until the end of the legal battle.
Bell has repeatedly said he doesn’t want to rule on the likelihood of one side prevailing over the other, and he reiterated that Wednesday.
“As the Court noted at the hearing on this motion, the Court believes that it is best not to provide its forecast of the Plaintiffs’ likelihood of success on the merits, and thereby potentially bias the jury pool, unless it is necessary to do so, which is not here,” Bell wrote.
He also cautioned on what the landscape of NASCAR may look like if the case is not settled before trial.