23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports will not have NASCAR Cup Series charter status for at least the next two races at Dover and Indianapolis as the federal judge overseeing the antitrust lawsuit and countersuit did not grant the teams’ request for a temporary restraining order.
Citing impending imminent harm of racing as ‘open teams,’ the two organizations requested the ‘TRO’ this week in the aftermath of the Fourth District of Appeals overturning the ‘preliminary injunction’ that forced NASCAR to recognize 23XI and Front Row as if they held charters.
Of the 15 teams that compete in the Cup Series, only two (23XI, Front Row) did not sign the seven-year charter agreement extension after two-plus years of negotiating with NASCAR and instead chose to sue the Sanctioning Body on federal antitrust grounds.
Read more: Why two Cup teams and NASCAR are suing each other
The overturned injunction means that both teams, and all six of their cars, will not race under the charter program for at least two weeks. And while no more than 40 cars are entered for both events, the teams will not receive the expanded revenue not made available to teams that race as open.
A reminder that open teams earn less than a third of the money they would earn as a chartered team.
Read more: What is NASCAR’s charter system and how it works
The judge has yet to make a ruling on the new injunction request, which the two teams say is different from the one that was overturned by the Fourth Circuit because it contains information uncovered as part of the legal fact discovery process.
But the judge says the teams could not show imminent harm for the next two races because they are not at risk of missing starts or shutting down. The teams also said NASCAR is preparing to sell the charters 23XI and Front Row had previously possessed but the court received a declaration it would not do so before the court rules on the new injunction motion.
From the judge’s ruling:
“First, (23XI and Front Row) claim that the transfer of the Charter spots Plaintiffs had been using prior to this dispute and have purchased would ‘destroy their businesses’ under the current Charter Agreement regime. This is a fair and significant fear; however, NASCAR has agreed that it ‘will not sell any Charters before the Court can rule on Plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction.’
“Similarly, Plaintiffs worry that denying them guaranteed entry into the field for upcoming races could adversely impact their competitive standing, including their ability to earn a spot in the playoffs. Again, a legitimate, potentially irreparable harm. Yet, akin to the sale of Charters, NASCAR represents to the Court that all of Plaintiffs’ cars will qualify (if they choose to race) for the races in Dover and Indianapolis that will take place during the next 14 days, the initial length of time during which the Court can enter a TRO under Rule 65. Therefore, Plaintiffs will not suffer any harm from being at risk of a failure to qualify for races until the Court rules on the Preliminary Injunction.”
To receive the injunction in December that granted them charter status until it was overturned by the Fourth Circuit of Appeals, 23XI and Front Row pointed to opt-out clauses in driver Tyler Reddick’s contract, and those of several sponsors, should the teams not have a charter.
The judge determined those clauses were not at risk of being executed.
“With respect to drivers, the record stands in a different posture than it did prior to the season when the Court entered the earlier injunction. While Plaintiffs’ drivers could have realistically terminated their contracts with Plaintiffs and/or been lured away by other teams, that prospect (although theoretically still conceivable) appears unlikely at this late stage of the season, and Plaintiffs have not offered evidence that any drivers are intending to do so in the next two weeks. Moreover, Plaintiffs have not established an imminent loss of sponsorships before the Preliminary Injunction can be decided (even if such a loss could not be compensated by money damages.”
Thus, the judge is accepting and respecting the decision made by the Fourth Circuit of Appeals on the previous injunction decision and now has time to consider the positions made by both sides for this new injunction motion.
And despite NASCAR painting the Fourth Circuit decision as one that also is a win for their antitrust defense against 23XI and Front Row, Judge Kenneth D. Bell wrote he does not view it that way and the timeline for a December 1 trial is still on path if both parties do not reach a resolution prior.
“With respect to the Preliminary Injunction, NASCAR’s filings appear to assert that the Fourth Circuit and other authority has already held that they are effectively immune from antitrust scrutiny. The Court disagrees and therefore will permit the additional briefing NASCAR requested in the Parties’ recent telephone conference with the Court. Towards that end, the Parties are directed to confer and propose a further briefing and hearing schedule by Noon on July 18, 2025.”
Translated: By prior, both sides will need to be prepared to schedule further oral arguments over whether an injunction will be granted.
For now though, both teams’ six cars will race the next two weeks without charters. And again, from NASCAR’s standpoint, the teams never had the charters in the first place, because they gave them up in choosing to not sign the document in September before choosing to sue on antitrust grounds.
It is NASCAR’s position that the teams do not have legal standing to pursue antitrust violations and are instead suing only to receive the charter terms they were unable to obtain in negotiations from 2022 to 2024.
A statement was issued by Jeffrey Kessler, lead attorney for the teams, after the ruling:
“We are disappointed that the court declined to grant 23XI and Front Row Motorsports a temporary restraining order to allow the teams to continue racing as chartered teams. We remain confident that our motion for a preliminary injunction is legally warranted and necessary, and we look forward to the court’s full review,” Kessler said.
“The court made it clear it is only denying the temporary restraining order because NASCAR has agreed to preserve our charters until the preliminary injunction can be decided and because we are assured of qualifying all our cars the next two weeks so that there will be no irreparable harm before the preliminary injunction can be fully briefed and ruled upon.
“We made the decision to bring this lawsuit to challenge NASCAR’s monopolistic practices and bullying tactics, and we are not going to let them push our teams – or others – out of the sport that they love. We are confident in the merits of our case and the teams remain focused on competing this weekend and continuing their playoff push.”
