CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR's championship week began in a manner unlike ever before — in a courtroom.
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Representatives from NASCAR, 23XI Racing, and Front Row Motorsports appeared in Federal Court Monday afternoon for the preliminary injunction hearing.
Denny Hamlin, Michael Jordan, Bob Jenkins, and Jerry Freeze were among those on the right side of the room. Mike Helton and Jim France were among those on the left side of the room. They all silently watched as their legal teams spent over an hour presenting arguments for why the Court and Judge Frank D. Whitney should rule in their favor.
Attorneys for the two Cup Series organizations, led by Jeffrey Kessler, asked the court for two things. The first was to allow them to compete in NASCAR without signing the agreement waiving their right to file an antitrust lawsuit against the sanctioning body.
The second was to allow 23X Racing and Front Row Motorsports to operate under the charter agreement for the duration of their antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR.
Why was this injunction so important to the teams? Kessler provided multiple reasons during and after the hearing. He repeatedly said that running as an open team could result in the team losing sponsors and possibly drivers. He mentioned Reddick as a possibility multiple times.
"No team has been able to operate in all of the races of a season as an open team," Kessler told the judge presiding over the hearing.
Another reason, which was a rebuttal to one of NASCAR's arguments, was that these teams have nowhere else to compete. Kessler said that these teams focus on stock car racing and that they can not just switch to Formula 1 or another series. He compared the situation to telling a football player that they need to go play basketball or baseball.
"I think we laid out very clearly what our request is," Kessler told media members gathered outside the courthouse.
"I think the other side worked very hard in their papers and in their presentation to present a case that doesn't exist. And I think by the end of the hearing, it was very clear what we're asking for and why we're entitled to that belief."
NOTE: NASCAR communications met with media members and said that NASCAR's attorneys would not provide comment after the hearing.
The attorneys for NASCAR, led by Chris Yates, argued that the Court should deny the injunction request, saying that the two Cup organizations had signed agreements with this language regarding the release of antitrust claims for "four to eight years."
Yates said during the hearing that the teams had not mentioned this language in their correspondence with NASCAR. He said during his portion of the hearing that the teams were trying to get the Court to "rewrite the charter agreement" and force NASCAR into a "seven to 14-year agreement."
Yates, who used quotes from Rick Hendrick and Justin Marks during the hearing, added that Jordan and Curtis Polk, who were in attendance, had invested in the sport "with eyes wide open."
Yates and NASCAR said that the two Cup teams would not suffer "irreparable harm" by running as open teams. Part of the argument was that the teams "would qualify for every race" due to having eight open spots and only 32 chartered entries.
Kessler said during his rebuttal that the 23XI Racing and Front Row cars could miss the Daytona 500, the biggest race on the schedule, due to being open entries. This season's Daytona 500 had 42 cars on the entry list. Two failed to make the race.
Yates said that NASCAR "is obligated to increase race purse payouts if there are fewer than 36 charters" and that NASCAR provided the 2025 purse information to teams on Nov. 1.
The attorneys were respectful to each other and shook hands after presenting their arguments, but their arguments provided a glimpse of the friction between the teams and NASCAR.
Yates said that 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have spent multiple months "undermining NASCAR's brand and goodwill" with name-calling. He said that the sanctioning body only wants to work with teams that want to grow the sport.
Kessler disputed some of the information provided by NASCAR during the hearing.
"I think I said in open court that I did not think the actual record corresponded to how they presented the facts," Kessler said. "How they did it in their slides, and how they did it orally.
"The judge will make that determination. I was disappointed in the other side for not really portraying the record as it really is."
The hearing had different approaches from each legal team
The lead attorneys, who each initially had 30 minutes to present their case, had wildly different styles. Yates stood in place and used several slides to support NASCAR's side of the argument. He kept a level tone while speaking.
Kessler had the opposite approach. He moved around, waving his arms while presenting the case for the two Cup teams. He would raise and lower his voice while discussing each point of the case.
The differences continued with the approach to time. Kessler used 15 minutes to present the teams' argument and then Yates used all of his allotted 30 minutes to present NASCAR's argument. Kessler then used another 15 minutes for rebuttal.
Both attorneys were granted extra minutes by the judge for closing comments.
Monday's hearing was only the first step in the process. Next, the judge will have to decide whether to rule in NASCAR's favor and deny the injunction request or rule in favor of the Cup teams and approve their request so that they can race under the current charter agreement as the lawsuit continues.
The judge did not provide a set deadline for a decision. He said that Friday was possible.
"Friday is fine," Kessler added. "Remember the key date here is January 1. These teams remain chartered until January 1.
"In fact, one of these teams may have a driver who's going to win it all coming up very shortly. So there was no relief needed before then. We get our injunction Friday, we are golden."
