23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have officially refiled their request for a preliminary injunction. The two NASCAR Cup Series organizations have also requested an expedited briefing and hearing schedule.
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According to court documents filed on Tuesday, 23XI and Front Row requested that the Court grant an injunction that would allow them to compete under the terms of the 2025 charter agreement for the duration of their antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR and CEO Jim France.
The refiled preliminary injunction request asked the Court to keep the Defendants (NASCAR and France) from enforcing Section 10.3 of any charter agreement. This section prevents teams from pursuing antitrust claims against NASCAR.
"In the absence of a preliminary injunction, Plaintiffs will face several irreparable harms, including the loss of their antitrust rights, sponsors, drivers, industry goodwill, and irreplaceable competitive opportunities," the filing from 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports stated.
"Plaintiffs' lost revenue, to the extent it can be measured, will total tens of millions of dollars per year, which threatens the very existence of their businesses."
Judge Frank D. Whitney denied the previous preliminary injunction request on Nov. 8. He said in his ruling that the two teams could refile if circumstances changed. The teams initially appealed the decision and then vacated that appeal request while stating the intention to refile the preliminary injunction request.
Along with the preliminary injunction request, the two organizations filed a motion for an expedited briefing and hearing schedule. The teams cited contractual deadlines of Dec. 17, 18, and 20, as well as the request from "business partners" to have conversations this week about contractual deadlines.
The proposed briefing schedule from the two teams includes three main dates:
- November 26, 2024: Plaintiffs' Opening Brief due
- December 9, 2024: Defendants' Response Brief due
- December 11, 2024: Plaintiffs' Reply Brief due
NASCAR responded to the motion for the expedited briefing and hearing schedule. The sanctioning body strongly argued against this proposed schedule while alleging that the two teams made a decision to "focus more on the media than Court filings."
NASCAR's legal team argued that the Plaintiffs (23XI and Front Row) proposed that the Defendants (NASCAR and France) receive only 10 calendar days to file a response. The opposition filing said that four days of this timeline include two Court holidays (Nov. 28-29) and a holiday weekend.
"Bottom Line Up Front. Plaintiffs' motion to expedite should be denied," NASCAR said in a filing from its legal team. "Plaintiffs tactically delayed filing their new motion for a preliminary injunction for over a week, intentionally dropping it on NASCAR and the Court on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday after first posting about it on social media many hours before filing.
"In that post, Plaintiffs' counsel described that Plaintiffs were submitting a second preliminary injunction motion, but Plaintiffs' counsel did not file that motion until hours later and did not provide the unredacted version to Defendants' counsel until another two hours later—just hours before midnight (after re-posting their social media posting about the second preliminary injunction motion in the interim)."
NASCAR proposed a briefing timeline of its own in the opposition filing.
- November 26: Plaintiffs' Renewed Motion For a Preliminary Injunction
- December 9: Defendants' Opposition (1 day of additional time compared to Plaintiffs'
proposed length in the Fourth Circuit because otherwise deadline falls on a Sunday) - December 12: Plaintiffs' Reply (1 day of additional time compared to Plaintiffs'
proposed length in the Fourth Circuit)
Judge set deadlines for renewed preliminary injunction:
-NASCAR response due Dec 9
-Teams reply due noon Dec 12
-Hearing date tbd https://t.co/ZU442v6hUg— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) November 27, 2024
