The antitrust trial between Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports, and NASCAR moved into Day 8 on Wednesday in Charlotte with more debate about money, control, and how teams compete in the sport. The lawsuit began after the teams refused to sign NASCAR’s proposed 2025–2031 charter deal.
They say NASCAR uses its power over tracks, technology, and vendors to limit team growth and reduce long-term revenue. NASCAR says the charter system is fair and needed to keep the sport stable.
Day 8 centered on financial data from the Next Gen era and on expert testimony, as both sides continued to argue over what truly shapes performance and whether NASCAR’s rules help or harm competitive balance.
NASCAR Leaders Defend Spending Levels and the Next Gen Car
NASCAR Executive Vice President John Probst defended how the Next Gen car was built and funded. He said NASCAR invested between $10 million and $12 million in development, including safety updates such as the underwing and diffuser flap, which were paid for fully by NASCAR.
Probst also shared spending numbers for 23XI Racing, saying the team spent $1.446 million per car on parts in 2023 and more than $1 million in 2024. Those totals placed 23XI among the top three spenders from 2022 to 2024.
Probst’s data was used to challenge the idea that more spending leads to more wins. On “The Teardown,” reporter Jeff Gluck said a NASCAR witness reviewed purchase-order data across teams.
“They get all the data for Alexa orders first, and they find that the three highest spending teams, the three teams that ordered the most parts, all had less than 10 wins. He was very happy about those, essentially, because he was worried that their chart would show that the more you buy parts and the more you spend on the action card, the more you win. But in fact, they find that’s not the case. 23XI was one of the three highest spending, 1.7 million, Gluck explained.”
Denny Hamlin Pushes Back on NASCAR’s Data
Denny Hamlin challenged those numbers soon after they were shared. Hamlin, a veteran driver and co-owner of 23XI Racing, said the spending data did not include the team’s real expansion plans.
“We were going to have 3 cars in 2025. We had to buy cars and parts for 3 entries (4 entries some weeks), and the data they provided was based on 2. More disingenuous information.” His response suggested that the court data may understate 23XI’s actual costs, which could affect how spending patterns are viewed.
NASCAR Chairman Jim France also testified during the week about charter permanence. France said it does not want to make a long-term promise that may not hold in the future. “I don’t have a sightline to the future, and I’m really not comfortable making a promise that I cannot keep forever, he said.” Plaintiffs’ lawyer Jeffrey Kessler questioned internal messages from past years that appeared to show resistance to charter changes.
Financial Experts Debate Valuations and Damages
More financial testimony followed. NASCAR CFO Greg Motto said the damage estimate from plaintiffs’ expert Edward Snyder was unrealistic. Snyder said NASCAR shortened 23XI and FRM by $364.7 million and all chartered teams by more than $1 billion. Motto said paying that amount would bankrupt NASCAR. He also pointed to $600 million in recent track upgrades. During cross-examination, Kessler challenged profit numbers and tax setups connected to the France family.
NASCAR’s economist, Dr. Mark Zmijewski, said Snyder’s use of Formula 1 as a model did not fit. He said F1 grew 70 percent in the same period that NASCAR grew 7 percent, creating inflated comparisons. Kessler questioned whether NASCAR’s own limits affect the sport’s ability to grow.
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