NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell (pictured above) took the stand early Thursday morning in a North Carolina federal courtroom and admitted chairman and CEO Jim France was not open to a new business model.
Jeffrey Kessler, lead counsel for the two teams who filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR – 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports – started his questioning of O’Donnell by going back to 2022 and the notes O’Donnell had taken from a meeting with four team representatives. Those were Curtis Polk of 23XI Racing, Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports, Dave Alpern of Joe Gibbs Racing, and Steve Newmark, who is now the former president of RFK Racing. The “broken” business model for race teams was the center of discussion.
“I took them at their word,” O’Donnell said.
In his notes, O’Donnell wrote that the teams presented a survey of five teams where they said it cost $20 million to race. O’Donnell acknowledged he had no basis to dispute those numbers.
Among the items Polk spoke about was a fair model and more revenue. He told O’Donnell he had driver support on those issues.
- Front Row Motorsports’ Bob Jenkins takes the stand in NASCAR antitrust case
- Hamlin, NASCAR share terse exchanges in court as antitrust case continues
O’Donnell testified that he believes all well-managed Cup Series teams should have the opportunity to compete for a championship. Additionally, in his notes, he wrote that Polk presented three key issues, which was maximizing TV revenue, creating a competitive landscape and considering a cost cap.
It was during this meeting that Gordon directly asked NASCAR senior VP of strategy and innovation Ben Kennedy, who is also the great grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., about the France family. The question was whether he, Kennedy, believed Jim France – his uncle as well as NASCAR chairman and CEO – “is open to a new model.”
“Ben said yes,” O’Donnell said.
“As it turned out,” countered Kessler, “Jim France was not open to a new model, right?”
“No,” O’Donnell said.
The meeting, which was held in March 2022, was presented to NASCAR as a business meeting to touch base and opening up charter negotiations, the window for which was scheduled to open in July 2023. However, it ended up being an opportunity for team representatives to express frustration over the business model. It was the first meeting in what became over two years of negotiations about the 2025 charter agreement. NASCAR informed the race teams on Aug. 30, 2024, the deadline to sign the agreement was Sept. 6.
23XI Racing and Front Row did not sign the agreement even after being given an extension and continuing to express issues with the agreement contents. NASCAR said it would allow extensions and answer questions for the negations were over.
The lawsuit was filed on Oct. 2, 2024.
The remainder of O’Donnell’s testimony before the court’s lunch break focused on exclusivity clauses in the track sanctioning agreements and the contingency plans NASCAR created if all the teams chose to not sign the charter agreement. He was on the stand for one hour before the break and will resume his testimony Thursday afternoon.
The 23XI and Front Row teams called O’Donnell to the stand and he is considered an adverse witness. He will be cross-examined by NASCAR’s lawyers upon Kessler’s completion.
O’Donnell followed the completed testimony of Front Row owner Bob Jenkins. He began his testimony Wednesday about his grievances with the charter agreement and his organization’s financials.