NASCAR Seeks to Amend Countersuit Against 23XI and Front Row Following New Evidence in Discovery
The legal battle between NASCAR and teams 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports has intensified, as the discovery phase of their ongoing antitrust case continues. Both sides have been exchanging documents and issuing subpoenas, with the teams also seeking financial agreement details from other sports organizations, including Formula 1 and its owner, Liberty Media.
Now, NASCAR is requesting permission from the court to amend its countersuit based on evidence obtained during discovery.
While much of the filing remains redacted due to confidentiality, NASCAR claims the documents reinforce their allegations—particularly against 23XI co-owner Curtis Polk.
According to the filing, the evidence confirms that 23XI, Front Row, and Polk entered into unlawful agreements with other teams to coordinate how compensation from NASCAR would be distributed, using Race Team Alliance (RTA) executive director Jonathan Marshall as an intermediary.
Polk, who is also the longtime business manager for Michael Jordan and co-owner of 23XI with Denny Hamlin, was allegedly given authority by the RTA to negotiate a favorable charter deal using his experience with NBA franchise ownership.
NASCAR’s legal team emphasized that unlike the NBA, which operates under a labor union and legal exemptions for collective bargaining, NASCAR has no such protections—making team-to-team agreements potentially illegal under antitrust law.
NASCAR further alleges that Polk tried to organize a boycott of the 2023 Daytona 500 qualifying races and interfered with TV negotiations. Citing redacted emails and meeting notes from 2022, NASCAR claims Polk and other team representatives worked to prevent individual teams from negotiating directly with the sanctioning body, pushing instead for a united front to extract better revenue terms.
These tactics, NASCAR argues, were successful—claiming that no teams signed the charter extension until the organization presented its final offer in September 2024.
While most teams eventually signed, 23XI and Front Row did not, and subsequently filed their lawsuit in October.
NASCAR asserts that continued efforts by Polk and 23XI discouraged others from signing and maintained pressure to collectively hold out.
The league contends that this coordinated behavior led to a more lucrative charter deal for teams than they would have received through individual negotiations.
Still in the discovery phase, NASCAR believes more evidence will emerge to support its claims of an illegal scheme to force better financial terms. It is now formally asking the court to allow it to revise its countersuit to reflect these findings—while assuring Judge Kenneth D. Bell that doing so will not delay the scheduled trial date of December 1
