NASCAR Sues 23XI & FRM Claiming Teams “Embarked on a Strategy to Threaten, Coerce, and Extort”
What’s Happening? Though the ongoing lawsuit between Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports lawsuit with NASCAR is awaiting its…
This week, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed individual motions to dismiss NASCAR’s Mar. 5 countersuit. NASCAR’s countersuit made claims against both teams, specifically 23XI Racing co-owner Curtis Polk.
In their eight-page filing, Front Row Motorsports claims that NASCAR’s countersuit should be dismissed as the claims have nothing to do with the Ford team. As stated on Page 5, “The law is clear that Front Row cannot be subject to an antitrust claim through group pleading that does not make any specific allegations of anticompetitive conduct by Front Row.”
In 23XI Racing’s much longer motion to dismiss, the three-car Toyota team calls the counterclaim “an act of desperation that cannot withstand a motion to dismiss.” It goes on to say that NASCAR’s claim of antitrust injury via joint negotiations is “negated by NASCAR’s own statements that the charter renewal was good for NASCAR.”
Further, regarding the joint negotiations with the Race Team Alliance, the filing claims that NASCAR themselves negated this claim by utilizing individual negotiations. “Any claim of harm to NASCAR from the joint negotiations is negated by the undisputed fact that NASCAR was able to choose the alternative of individual negotiations.”
The motion to dismiss also addresses’ NASCAR’s claims that the teams and Polk violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act.
“The allegations that the Counterclaim-Defendants, the RTA, and the other racing teams participated in joint negotiations with NASCAR are not sufficient to show any concerted action in restraint of trade actionable under Section 1.”
What’s Happening? Though the ongoing lawsuit between Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports lawsuit with NASCAR is awaiting its…
In their counterclaim against 23XI, FRM, and Polk, NASCAR alleged that Polk conducted a “plot to use collusive behavior to extract more favorable commercial terms from NASCAR in the Charter negotiations.”
That Mar. 5 filing listed what NASCAR alleged to be anticompetitive actions:
“These strategies and threats included, but were and are not limited to, a group boycott and threatened group boycotts of NASCAR events, including televised qualifying races, negative media campaigns, meetings with at least one NASCAR media partner to affect ongoing NASCAR negotiations for a new media rights agreement, and threats/coercion to other team owners to ‘not break ranks.'”
Since this countersuit, Polk (and 23XI co-owners Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan’s defense of him) has been a major storyline. NASCAR’s Lawyer, Christopher Yates, has made several comments about Polk. He even told the Associated Press, “He’s [Polk] done a lot of things that might work in the NBA or might be OK in the NBA but just are not appropriate in NASCAR.”
On the Mar. 9 episode of Actions Detrimental, 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin adamantly defended Polk’s business acumen and understanding of NASCAR. “Curtis has just been fantastic for our team and certainly a pioneer—I believe—and a trailblazer for new ideas that our team uses every single time we hit the racetrack and how we do business.”
This countersuit is part of an ongoing antitrust lawsuit filed by 23XI and FRM against NASCAR in October. We have covered the countersuit and the entire storyline of the initial lawsuit via the timeline linked below.
What’s Happening? The 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports lawsuit will continue for some time. However, many developments will occur along…
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