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Why the NASCAR Antitrust Settlement Benefits Everyone
Ever since the antitrust suit against NASCAR was settled, I have had people who formerly worked in the sport ask me who won, and I have responded, they both won.
Immediately, I receive the question, “How so?” I think it’s hard to conceive both sides winning in a federal court settlement, but that’s what happened.
The NASCAR Cup teams received:
- A form of “evergreen” or permanent Charter, which they desperately wanted. The revenue will be periodically negotiated amidst new media rights deals.
- A say in decisions NASCAR makes that will affect their costs. The three-strike rule that existed in the 2016 Charter agreement was reinstated as a five-strike rule.
- A share of NASCAR’s international revenue.
- A third of revenue from intellectual property rights.
On NASCAR’s side:
- The France family retained ownership of the sanctioning body that it has possessed since Bill France Sr. incorporated NASCAR in February 1948.
- The sanctioning body retained governance of the nation’s premier stock car racing series.
- It didn’t have to sell any of its tracks.
- It retains ownership of IMSA, ARCA, American Flat Track motorcycle racing, and Historic Sportscar Racing.
- It avoided the nation’s premier stock car racing series being ripped apart as open-wheel racing was in 1980 and again in the mid-1990s.
If the settlement hadn’t been reached at the beginning of the federal trial’s ninth day and it had gone to the six-man, three-woman jury, it could have been detrimental to all of racing in the United States. That’s because every racing series is privately owned, most have spec engines or parts, and the series owners govern their series via the rulebook. A loss by NASCAR would have affected all of those issues.
US District Court Judge Kenneth Bell made it clear to NASCAR, 23XI Racing, and Front Row Motorsports that they were “burning down the house from the inside.” He continuously encouraged them to settle, telling them if it went to the jury and the plaintiffs won, he could dismantle the Charter system and force NASCAR to sell tracks that it owned.
Everyone knew whichever side lost, the other side would appeal to the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and from there to the US Supreme Court. Instead of putting the sport back together, the continued litigation would have ripped it apart.
Throughout the legal proceedings, ugly emails and text messages that became public have left a burning trail of hurt feelings and destroyed relationships. People can say it’s just business, but that doesn’t always repair the damage, especially with racers who never forget.
Often the antitrust suit filed by NBA Hall of Fame member Michael Jordan’s and NASCAR Cup driver Denny Hamlin’s 23XI Racing and Bob Jenkins’ Front Row Motorsports was characterized as a battle of billionaires and millionaires. However, when former driver and veteran NASCAR championship team owner Richard Childress testified, he showed that it was so much more. During Childress’ 50-minute testimony, he said that before the Cup teams were given Charters by NASCAR, his team was worth 10 cents on the dollar. Recently, a Cup Charter sold for more than $40 million.
The Charters provide the team owners with something they can sell that amount to more than race car parts and a building if they chose to leave the sport. Before the antitrust suit. the owners felt they had no financial choice but to sign the Charter agreement NASCAR gave them even if they disagreed with it. If they didn’t sign a Charter agreement, they lost their Charter and any financial benefit they might have received from it. Jenkins continuously testified during his nearly four hours of questioning over two days that he felt he “had a gun to his head” when it came time to sign or not-sign the 2025 Charter agreement.
Now that’s all changed and let’s face it, Jordan was the only team owner that could afford to sue NASCAR. Even though he’s been a NASCAR fan since childhood, he didn’t need NASCAR financially. Instead, he took the course he felt the teams needed to be financially sustainable.
This isn’t the first time NASCAR has been sued, and it probably won’t be the last, but for now, it appears the waters have been calmed in a way that benefits both parties.
