FULL: NASCAR files countersuit against Front Row, 23XI Racing
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR has filed a countersuit against 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports months after the teams filed suit against them.
The two teams alleged NASCAR violated antitrust laws in negotiations of the 2025 Charter Agreement. They allege NASCAR forced them to sign the agreement “at the 11th hour” with a clause stating they couldn’t sue for antitrust claims.
NASCAR sought to keep the two teams from racing as chartered entries in 2025. However, a judge granted the teams an injunction to race as chartered entries this season.
Now, NASCAR has hit back, alleging the teams “engaged in a conspiracy and agreement in unreasonable restraint of interstate trade and commerce.”
NASCAR alleges the teams agreed to “a scheme to pressure NASCAR to accept their collusive terms, including by engaging in media campaigns, 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.”
The sanctioning body likened the teams’ behavior to that of a “per se illegal cartel.”
NASCAR is seeking damages and an order barring the teams from negotiating with them. They’re also looking to remove a clause in the charter agreement guaranteeing entry into each race if the teams “persist in seeking to have the Charter Agreements declared as unlawful under the antitrust laws or seek the elimination of Section 6.6 or other provisions of the 2025 Charters mutually agreed upon by NASCAR and approximately ninety-percent of Charter holders.”
Read the full lawsuit here.
Discover more from The Racing Experts
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com