CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR began on Monday in Federal Court here with a jury being seated and NASCAR driver and team owner Denny Hamlin taking the stand.
23XI Racing, which is co-owned by Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan, and Front Row Motorsports owned by Bob Jenkins, filed suit against NASCAR on Oct. 2, 2024 after the two teams elected not to sign the charter agreement that the other NASCAR Cup Series teams signed.
Months of litigation led to the opening of the 10-day trial. After selecting a jury of nine during a two-hour process the trial began with opening arguments by both sides.
Prior to the opening statements, Judge Steven Bell admonished attorneys for both sides for delivering statements “riddled with impermissible arguments,” which led the Judge to prohibiting both sides from presenting any exhibits during opening statements.
Representing 23XI Racing and FRM, attorney Jeffrey Kesler said he would use emails and texts of NASCAR executives to argue that NASCAR Chairman Jim France was against NASCAR being in a competitive market. Most of those emails and texts have already been released to the public.
As part of his remarks, Kesler said the only reason that 23XI Racing can be profitable is because of Jordan’s ability to land sponsors.
NASCAR attorney John Stephenson made his opening remarks, cautioning the jury regarding the allegations against the sanctioning body and wondering aloud, why the teams never expressed those issues during the charter negotiations last year.
Stephenson said NASCAR’s overall payout to the 36 chartered teams was $431 million this year.
After the opening arguments, Hamlin was the first witness called to the stand, answering a wide array of questions before his session was halted after 40 minutes at the end of the day.
Hamlin stated on numerous occasions that teams must compete against NASCAR to land sponsors and noted that 11 of the 19 original charter teams have since sold the charters. “There’s only one side going out of business,” Hamlin said.
He will continue his testimony when court opens on Tuesday.