Former NASCAR Xfinity Series H2 Motorsports team owner Matt Hurley was arrested on charges of contempt of court by the Lee County, Florida Sheriff’s Department on June 18th.
After spending five hours in the jail, Hurley was released.
Hurley, who fielded the No. 28 team during the 2019 season for seven races, was summoned to court after being sued by the owners of the Atrium Executive Center after being evicted following failure to pay rent for a year.
Hurley began leasing the center in October of 2017.
According to a report from WinkNews.com, Hurley upon leasing the center, pitched the idea of a multi-million dollar remodel of the building, which forced tenants out of the building. Tenants then said that Hurley told them he was the new owner of the building and that they needed to leave.
The start of the court dates for this case, according to Lee County Court Records, began in April of 2018. Along the way, Hurley issued a counter suit claiming that the building owners would not allow him to make upgrades to the building.
According to Lee County Clerk court records, the judgement against Hurley is $447,246.96 (plus post judgement interest from October 30, 2019) to be awarded to Atrium of SW Florida Inc., with an additional $200,000 (plus interest) being owed for costs and Attorney’s Fees.
The 24-year old broke into NASCAR bringing his No. 28 machine to the NASCAR Xfinity Series and notably he brought the Circuit City sponsorship back to the sport.
After seven races with Shane Lee behind the wheel, Lee was fired for what was considered “performance” reasons, but Lee had a respectable average finish of 18th with the upstart organization.
After firing Lee, Hurley’s team never made it back onto the track again, despite announcing that they would return for a full-season in the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series.
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