On Wednesday, NASCAR’s legal team issued a countersuit against 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports, which have already issued an antitrust lawsuit against the sanctioning body over the terms of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Charter Agreement, and Curtis Polk.
In the 31-page filing, NASCAR requested a trial by jury in regard to the counterclaims in the filing.
Chris Yates, the lead attorney for NASCAR, alleges that Polk, and the two race teams engaged in tactics that violate antitrust laws, specifically Section 1 of the Sherman Act. According to Yates and NASCAR, Polk and the two teams conspired to pin NASCAR into a corner in an effort to force a renegotiation of terms for the 2025 Charter Agreement, which was ultimately signed by 13 of the 15 organizations that field cars in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“Well, I think this is different in that we think 23XI and Front Row are misusing the antitrust laws and alleging baseless monopolization claims in order to try to force a renegotiation,” Yates said in a media conference call when asked how this was different than typical counterclaims in most civil filings. “As I said, NASCAR has no intent and no interest in renegotiating the terms of 2025 Charter [Agreement]. We brought counterclaims because it’s pretty ironic that the teams that are claiming that NASCAR violated the antitrust laws actually engaged in something that is per se unlawful. It is illegal under the antitrust laws.”
As far as the conspiracy claims, Yates and NASCAR allege that Polk used his power within the Team Negotiation Committee (TNC) to scheme a boycott of a negotiation meeting with NASCAR, and even had teams threaten to not show up for a qualifying session of a NASCAR Cup Series race.
“[Polk] got teams to boycott a meeting that was required under the terms of the 2016 charter,” Yates explained. “He threatened a boycott of at least one qualifying race for an important NASCAR televised race. He also organized and went out and talked to NASCAR media partners at least one NASCAR media partner and did other things to try to interfere with NASCAR’s relationships and also organized sort of the joint negotiations and in-turn imposed joint terms that were more beneficial for 23XI and Front Row under the 2025 Charter negotiation so that collection of things is what Curtis Polk led in which 23XI and Front Row participated in and, you know, they reached unlawful agreements.”
While 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports withheld from signing the Charter Agreement, Yates says the sanctioning body caved quite a bit when it comes to the revenue sharing with the teams in the new seven-year Media Rights Agreement, which began in 2025, and reportedly was worth $7.7 billion. NASCAR has nearly given 50% of the media rights revenue to the teams in the 2025 Charter Agreement, which is an expansion from previous Charter Agreements.
“It’s increased substantially over time, up to 49 % from in the high 30s in the 2016 agreement, I don’t know what they think is fair,” Yates explained. “They have never explained that and you know I have no idea what they think the appropriate split should be. I just have no idea because it’s never been articulated in any filing I’ve seen, but you know the split is more than fair and as I said, you know, it’s a substantial increase over time. And most importantly, and legally, that would not be happening if NASCAR was a monopolist. I mean in every negotiation people always want more, but at some point, you need to reach an agreement and move on.”
While Yates zeroed in on the percentage of revenue given to the teams in the 2025 Charter Agreement, it should be noted that in the in-person court proceeding on November 4 that Jeffrey Kessler, the lead attorney for the race teams, indicated that 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports had no qualms with the portion of revenue that was negotiated upon in the 2025 Charter Agreement. Rather, the teams had issues with certain provisions of the Charter Agreement, which forbade teams that had signed the agreement to seek legal action against the sanctioning body. That is what Kessler claimed the grounds were for the requested injunction in the antitrust lawsuit.
The same section was included in NASCAR’s 2025 “Open” team agreement as well, but NASCAR agreed to drop the “anticompetitive” release from the Open Team Agreement on November 16.
While the new filing from NASCAR suggested that 23XI Racing, and Front Row Motorsports conspired with other teams to boycott meetings, and threatened to boycott qualifying sessions, that NASCAR is not pursuing action against the other teams, and Yates doesn’t expect the other 13 teams that signed the agreement to pursue further action against the sanctioning body.
“I would not expect other teams to get involved again,” Yates said. “Again, this is not a renegotiation and NASCAR has no intent of renegotiating the terms of 2025 charters. Other teams, 13 other teams representing 32 of 36 charters entered into agreements with NASCAR. NASCAR is abiding by those agreements, expects those teams to abide by those agreements. You know, 23XI and Front Row did not sign the agreement and instead chose to sue NASCAR alleging baseless monopolization claims, and that’s why NASCAR is suing 23XI, Front Row, and the person who orchestrated the boycotts and the conspiracy, Mr. Polk.”
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are competing during the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season as de facto Chartered teams through an injunction that was granted on December 18. The injunction allows the teams to operate as if they signed the 2025 Charter Agreement, while pursuing the antitrust lawsuit against the sanctioning body.
