23XI and Front Row Motorsports’ legal counsel will be led by Jeffrey Kessler — a lawyer famous for work in a litany of sports cases, including the establishment of NFL free agency, the NFLPA, NHLPA, MLBPA, NHLPA and NFL Coaches Association, among others.
NASCAR and its teams had been working to secure a new agreement since the start of the 2024 season, but its signing during the Atlanta Motor Speedway race weekend in September has seemingly created more problems.
The teams and NASCAR had been at odds regarding the terms of the deal throughout the season, with teams campaigning for a larger share of the sport’s revenue and permanent charters, among other issues.
The new charter agreement, which runs through 2031, includes a stipulation that the France family — who has owned NASCAR since the sport’s Daytona Beach roots in the late 1940s — would be able to own charters and, in theory, could put their cars on the track.
When asked why he signed the new charter agreement in September, legendary team owner Rick Hendrick said he “was just tired.” Those aren’t words that inspire confidence in the relationship between the sanctioning body and its race teams, who both need each other to survive.
23XI and Front Row’s lawsuit is a small part of a much bigger story that has dominated the NASCAR world for the entirety of the 2024 season.
If the teams didn’t sign the agreement, it was possible — though unlikely — that professional stock-car racing in America would be headed toward a split similar in nature to that of the IndyCar/CART split in the 1990s.
That split sent shockwaves through the racing world and crippled open-wheel racing in the country. It seems that a similar split for stock-car racing won’t be happening anytime soon, but with legal action now being taken against the giant of NASCAR, the whispers will undoubtedly begin to echo through the halls once more.
It’s no surprise that 23XI and Front Row decided to take their frustrations one step further, but the result of the lawsuit could have major implications for the future of NASCAR moving forward.
The sanctioning body that has long been ruled by an iron fist has finally been punched in the mouth.
