NASCAR to Appeal Court's Injunction Ruling; Asks Court for Delay
NASCAR is set to file an appeal of the preliminary injunction granted to 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports earlier this week by Judge Kenneth D. Bell.
On Wednesday, the organizations were granted said injunction, allowing teams to proceed with their two previously held charters, while also allowing them to acquire a third from the now defunct Stewart-Haas Racing -- this blocking NASCAR from not approving those transactions.
Meanwhile, NASCAR is also asking the court for a pair of things: an emergency motion for the partial stay of the injunction pending the results of the appeal, and the teams to post an injunction bond.
In arguing their case, the sanctioning body not only claims that they are likely to succeed on the appeal but would also be suffering harm without it. Simultaneously, NASCAR believes the teams wouldn't be harmed, as the enforcement would "address each of the Plaintiffs' irreparable harm allegations".
Further addressing the belief that they're likely to succeed in the appeal, NASCAR says that it wasn't given the chance to address the issues with said charter purchases, and that they weren't included in the complaint by teams.
In their motion, NASCAR connects the irreparable harm they would suffer to being forced to approve the Stewart-Haas charter sales, saying that it would “force NASCAR into a seven to 14-year contractual relationship” with 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
According to NASCAR, the teams haven’t met “multiple” of the required conditions for the Charter assignments. Furthermore, the sanctioning body argues that it would be difficult to undo the transfers, making the stay “crucial to prevent the consequences of an erroneous injunction from becoming irreversible”.
A partial stay would also address the irreparable harm allegations made by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports around their driver and sponsor contractual agreements, but wouldn’t force NASCAR to extend the benefits of the charter agreement to the teams that didn’t sign it. Both teams would still be able to field their entries.
According to NASCAR, this motion has to be handled on an emergency basis, since both 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have indicated that the charter purchases with Stewart-Haas Racing have to be closed by December 20.
In response to the emergent timeline, Judge Kenneth D. Bell says that he will rule on Monday (December 23) on whether to delay the enforcement of the injunction (pending appeal), further saying that if the sales haven't been completed, they cannot close until then.
