Two racing teams, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, sued NASCAR on Wednesday, accusing the organization of restraining fair competition and violating the Sherman Antitrust Act, preventing teams from competing ‘without accepting the anticompetitive terms’ it dictates.
The suit was filed in the Western District of North Carolina and comes on the heels of a two-year battle between NASCAR and more than a dozen charter-holding organizations that compete in the top tier of stock car racing.
23XI Racing is co-owned by Basketball Hall-of-Famer Michael Jordan and driver Denny Hamlin.
‘Everyone knows that I have always been a fierce competitor, and that will to win is what drives me and the entire 23XI team each and every week out on the track,’ Jordan said in a statement. ‘I love the sport of racing and the passion of our fans, but the way NASCAR is run today is unfair to teams, drivers, sponsors and fans. Today’s action shows I’m willing to fight for a competitive market where everyone wins.’
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports claim the ‘France family and NASCAR are monopolistic bullies,’ according to the lawsuit obtained by USA TODAY Sports. ‘And bullies will continue to impose their will to hurt others until their targets stand up and refuse to be victims. That moment has now arrived.’
NASCAR has not responded to USA TODAY Sports’ request for a comment on the lawsuit.
‘Unlike many major professional sports leagues like the NFL or the NBA, which are owned and operated by their teams, NASCAR has always been privately owned by the France family, including current CEO and Chairman, James France,’ the lawsuit says. ‘By exploiting its monopsony power over the racing teams, NASCAR has been able to impose anticompetitive terms as a condition of a team’s access to competitions.’
Also, in the statement, the two racing teams say that NASCAR operates without transparency and has control of the sport that unfairly benefits the organization at the expense of owners, sponsors, drivers, and fans.
The lawsuit says that on Sept. 6, NASCAR presented a final, take-it-or-leave-it offer to the driving teams, telling them they had a deadline of 6 p.m. or risked not having a charter for next season.
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