CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Moments after Judge Kenneth D. Bell announced a settlement agreement and dismissed the jury Thursday in the case of “23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports v. NASCAR,” the healing already had begun.
NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell was smiling as he slapped Michael Jordan on the back. The co-owner of 23XI, one of the plaintiffs in the case, smiled back and the two men—adversaries in the antitrust litigation just a day earlier—talked pleasantly for a moment.
Correspondent Lou Modestino sends in this link to an article about NASCAR and the lawsuit, written by By ALEX RASKIN, US SPORTS NEWS EDITOR and ASSOCIATED PRESS for the Daily Mail website…
Michael Jordan and his fellow plaintiffs suing NASCAR over alleged antitrust violations have reached a settlement with the racing circuit.
Jordan, his team 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin and Front Row owner Bob Jenkings joined NASCAR Chairman Jim France as they stood together outside the courthouse pm Thursday in Charlotte. The group announced that charters — at the heart of NASCAR’s revenue model — will be made permanent for all Cup Series teams. Both 23XI and Front Row Motorsports, the two plaintiffs, will get theirs back after racing uncharted most of this past season.
(NOTE: Chuck’s last article)
Phoenix International Raceway continues to deliver quality racing for sure. And like it or not, the Cup playoffs usually produce a quality winner.
This year, one could argue that NASCAR and its playoff system did Phoenix wrong.
First of all, let’s get the Martinsville results out of the way. Ryan Blaney drove his rear off and won the race to complete his effort to try for his second title. That makes it Blaney, Joey Logano (for title number three), Tyler Reddick and William Byron as the Championship Four. That is quite the foursome, but it also begs the question, is this the right foursome to compete for the title?
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. found victory lane once again and threw the playoff battle into a tizzy. Combined with the huge wreck late in Stage 3, the Charlotte Roval will play an outsized role in determining the next round of the playoff picture.
Christopher Bell is safe but with Ross Chastain and Stenhouse each stealing a win in this Round of 12, the stakes for everyone else couldn’t be higher heading to The Roval. (more…)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two NASCAR teams — one of them co-owned by Michael Jordan — filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the stock car series and chairman Jim France on Wednesday, claiming the new charter system limits competition by unfairly binding teams to the series, its tracks and its suppliers.
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed suit in the Western District of North Carolina in Charlotte after two years of contentious negotiations between the privately owned National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing and the 15 charter-holding organizations in the Cup Series, the organization’s top series. (more…)
