Judge Grants Preliminary Injunction to 23XI, Front Row in NASCAR Lawsuit
A substantial victory was reached for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports on Wednesday as Judge Kenneth D. Bell officially granted a motion for preliminary injunction for the two race teams in their antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR.
In the initial motion for preliminary injunction filed by the teams last month, the Court concluded that the teams had not shown the "irreparable harm" necessary for the Court to support granting the injunction. This time around, Judge Bell says the teams were able to provide cases of potential irreparable harm in the form of the loss of contractual control over their best drivers without guaranteed entry into all races as a Chartered team, which would result in the inability to field their best race team.
Specifically, Tyler Reddick was mentioned as the driver for 23XI Racing who notified 23XI Racing that the team had breached his Driver and Personal Services Agreement which requires 23XI to field a car for Reddick under the NASCAR Cup Series Charter Member Agreement. On November 18, Reddick gave the team 30 days to cure the breach in his contract.
According to the court documents, Noah Gragson has a similar clause in his contract with Front Row Motorsports. Riley Herbst, who recently signed with 23XI Racing also has a contract that requires he be provided with a chartered car, and Bubba Wallace, who drives the No. 23 car for 23XI Racing and Corey Heim, who was linked to the team mid-season, both requested answers from the team so they could shore up their driving plans for the 2025 season.
Additionally, the teams were able to show apprehension from major team sponsors such as Monster Energy (23XI Racing) and Love's Travel Stops (Front Row Motorsports) about the teams potentially not being chartered entries in 2025.
Monster Energy informed 23XI that it was delaying a NASCAR-related 'Ultimate Race Weekend' contest to a later date due to uncertainty among the team and Reddick's status with the team.
Love's, which serves as the largest sponsor for Front Row Motorsports, also emailed Front Row Motorsports on November 22 expressing concern about the team's ability to meet contractual obligations next season with the lack of a charter.
The teams were also able to show potentially irreparable harm in the form of the clause in the Charter Agreement, which forbids teams from bringing antitrust lawsuits against the sanctioning body once the agreement is signed. NASCAR removed the clause from the Open team agreement last month as an olive branch to the teams, but the plaintiffs allege they would suffer harm in the absence of being considered a "charter" team.
Judge Bell cited Winter v Nat. Res. Def. Council, 555 U.S. 7, 24 (2008) as precedent for the ruling to grant the preliminary injunction for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
The injunction has been granted, but what does this all mean?
What this means in essence is that Judge Bell has supported keeping the status quo for the teams in relation to the Charter Agreement for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season as the legal case drags on. As a result, the two teams will be permitted to sign the 2025 Charter Agreement, minus the clause not allowing them to bring forth a legal case, as the case is ongoing.
In addition to the teams being official "charter" teams during the 2025 season, the Court has also preliminarily forbidden NASCAR from refusing to approve the purchases of Stewart-Haas Racing charters by both race teams, which had agreements in place to purchase one each.
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports will be permitted to utilize their 2024 Charters as well as the purchased SHR charters in all 2025 NASCAR Cup Series races on the same terms as other charter teams, minus the antitrust lawsuit clause.
While the teams will be operating as de-facto "Charter" teams in 2025 after being granted the preliminary injunction, Judge Bell emphasized that Wednesday's ruling has nothing to do with the future ruling of the actual case in regard to the team's allegations of NASCAR participating in monopolistic measures.
"The Court emphasizes that it does not reach and expresses no opinion as to Plaintiffs' likelihood of success on their other Sherman Act claims, including but not limited to, their allegations of anticompetitive restrictions and conduct,"
The court records state a Case Management schedule will be set by the Court which, in the absence of a voluntary resolution of this dispute among the Parties, provides for a trial on Plaintiffs' claims to be concluded in advance of the beginning of the 2026 NASCAR race season.
Timeline of Events in the 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports Antitrust Lawsuit against NASCAR
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.