CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — It’s the summer to sue in NASCAR, the sport where the on-track bumping and banging is in danger of being overshadowed by the action in the courtroom.

Two teams — one owned by retired NBA great Michael Jordan — are suing NASCAR over antitrust allegations. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are awaiting a federal court ruling before Sunday’s race in Delaware that could impact their ability to compete.

Meanwhile, seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson is battling tiny Rick Ware Racing and his lawyers at Legacy Motor Club went hard at Ware’s attorneys in a Monday hearing.

What is all the fighting about? Charters, which are at the heart of NASCAR’s business model. Having one is vital to a team’s survival.

The legal wrangling is only making the the charters skyrocket in value. When Spire Motorsports debuted in 2019, it had bought a charter for $6 million. Now, one of Spire’s founders brokered the now-disputed deal for Ware to sell one of his two charters to Legacy for $45 million.

Johnson is not enjoying the legal brawling, including the higher-profile antitrust fight. He called on those parties to settle.

“I’m just sitting back watching it all play out, learning a lot about the legal process and the amount of injunctions and appeals that can take place,” Johnson said. “It’s a big game of chess and I’m watching all the strategy that goes into it all.

“I would love to see a settlement of some kind. I really don’t think that getting into a knock-down, drag-out lawsuit is good for anybody.”

The NASCAR lawsuit

23XI and FRM filed a federal antitrust suit against NASCAR last year after they were the only two organizations out of 15 to reject NASCAR’s extension offer on charters.

The case has a Dec. 1 trial date, but in the meantime, the two teams are fighting to be recognized as chartered for the current season, which has 16 races left. A charter guarantees one of the 40 spots in the field each week, but also a base amount of money paid out each week.

Jordan and FRM owner Bob Jenkins won an injunction to recognize 23XI and FRM as chartered for the season, but the ruling was overturned on appeal earlier this month. Both teams were set to be stripped of a combined six charters on Wednesday, which would force them to compete as “open cars.”

Three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin co-owns 23XI with Jordan and said they are prepared to send Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst to the track each week as open teams. But they still filed for a restraining order Monday and claimed that through discovery they learned NASCAR upon revocation planned to immediately begin the process of selling the six charters which would put “plaintiffs in irreparable jeopardy of never getting their charters back and going out of business.”

NASCAR said it has asked multiple times for settlement proposals but heard nothing. NASCAR also has no intention of re-negotiating the charter agreements held by 30 other teams.

Jordan has the money to keep 23XI running without charters, but FRM doesn’t have the same level of funding. Additionally, if the teams aren’t chartered, they will have to qualify on speed each week to make the field.

It won’t be an issue this weekend at Dover as fewer than the maximum 40 cars are entered. But should 41 cars show up anywhere this season, someone slow will be sent home.

“We’re not worried because our cars have the speed. We’ve always said we’re racing no matter what. If we have to race open, we have to race open,” Hamlin said at Sonoma Raceway last weekend. “We worked to get an injunction and obviously feel like Dec. 1 is all that matters.”

Legacy vs. RWR

This case is actually a dispute over agreed-upon terms for Ware to sell one of his two charters to Johnson and his partners at Knighthead Capital Management.

Ware this season is leasing a charter to RFK Racing and was already under agreement with that team to get the charter back in 2026, then lease RFK its second charter next season. He never had a charter to sell for 2026 unless he ceased operations.

Yet when he signed the contract with Legacy, Ware has said, he didn’t read it through and catch that the sale terms were for next season and not 2027, when he’d have both charters in his possession.

RWR is alleging Legacy pulled a bait-and-switch, and if true, it is on Ware for not seeing it in the contract he signed.

The curveball came when T.J. Puchyr, the Spire co-founder who now acts as a consultant and brokered the deal between Legacy and Ware, said last month he plans to buy Ware’s team. Legacy argued in court Monday it was blindsided by the news, that if Ware is selling then the charter rightfully belongs to them, and they urgently needed depositions before Ware sold his race team out from under them.

It didn’t help when Ware’s lawyers couldn’t answer questions about a potential sale: “I think you need to talk to your client,” the judge told them before warning Ware may be in contempt of court and ordering depositions for later this week.

Ware, meanwhile, apparently accepted the Legacy offer for his charter despite a second bid of more than $50 million from another party. With NASCAR indicating through discovery in the 23XI/FRM suit that it has interested buyers for the six charters, it is a seller’s market.

Johnson, with financial backing from Knighthead, is certain he will be getting the Ware charter one way or another to expand Legacy to three full-time Cup Series drivers.

“I’m not sure there is a plan B,” Johnson said of his confidence level at winning the case.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

NASCAR suspensions issued following the race weekend in California

On Sunday, the NASCAR went road course racing. Sonoma Raceway hosted the NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series at the California track.

View the NASCAR penalty report from Sonoma Raceway below.

Sonoma Results: July 13, 2025 (NASCAR Cup Series)

NASCAR Cup Series
Penalties

Driver/Team: Cody Ware No 51

Date: 7/13/2025 (race)

Level: Safety

Infraction: Sections 8.8.10.4.C: Tires and Wheels Note: Loss or separation of an improperly installed tire/wheel from the vehicle during the event.

Penalty: Crew members (Marquill Osborne and De’Quan Hampton) have been suspended from the next two NASCAR Cup Series Championship points events, through Indianapolis Motor Speedway, July 27, 2025.

NASCAR Xfinity Series
Penalties

Driver/Team: Austin Hill No. 21

Date: 7/12/2025 (post-race inspection)

Level: Safety

Infraction: Sections 8.8.10.4a: Tires and Wheels (Note: Lug nut(s) not properly installed.)

Penalty: The team has been fined $5,000.

—

Driver/Team: Dean Thompson No. 26

Date: 7/12/2025 (post-race inspection)

Level: Safety

Infraction: Sections 8.8.10.4a: Tires and Wheels (Note: Lug nut(s) not properly installed.)

Penalty: The team has been fined $5,000.

—

Driver/Team: Brennan Poole No. 44

Date: 7/12/2025 (post-race inspection)

Level: Safety

Infraction: Sections 8.8.10.4a: Tires and Wheels (Note: Lug nut(s) not properly installed.)

Penalty: The team has been fined $5,000.

NASCAR points after Sonoma Raceway (July 2025)

Links

Sonoma Raceway | NASCAR

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — It’s the summer to sue in NASCAR, the sport where the on-track bumping and banging is in danger of being overshadowed by the action in the courtroom.

Two teams — one owned by retired NBA great Michael Jordan — are suing NASCAR over antitrust allegations. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are awaiting a federal court ruling before Sunday’s race in Delaware that could impact their ability to compete.

Meanwhile, seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson is battling tiny Rick Ware Racing and his lawyers at Legacy Motor Club went hard at Ware’s attorneys in a Monday hearing.

What is all the fighting about? Charters, which are at the heart of NASCAR’s business model. Having one is vital to a team’s survival.

The legal wrangling is only making the the charters skyrocket in value. When Spire Motorsports debuted in 2019, it had bought a charter for $6 million. Now, one of Spire’s founders brokered the now-disputed deal for Ware to sell one of his two charters to Legacy for $45 million.

Johnson is not enjoying the legal brawling, including the higher-profile antitrust fight. He called on those parties to settle.

“I’m just sitting back watching it all play out, learning a lot about the legal process and the amount of injunctions and appeals that can take place,” Johnson said. “It’s a big game of chess and I’m watching all the strategy that goes into it all.

“I would love to see a settlement of some kind. I really don’t think that getting into a knock-down, drag-out lawsuit is good for anybody.”

The NASCAR lawsuit

23XI and FRM filed a federal antitrust suit against NASCAR last year after they were the only two organizations out of 15 to reject NASCAR’s extension offer on charters.

The case has a Dec. 1 trial date, but in the meantime, the two teams are fighting to be recognized as chartered for the current season, which has 16 races left. A charter guarantees one of the 40 spots in the field each week, but also a base amount of money paid out each week.

Jordan and FRM owner Bob Jenkins won an injunction to recognize 23XI and FRM as chartered for the season, but the ruling was overturned on appeal earlier this month. Both teams were set to be stripped of a combined six charters on Wednesday, which would force them to compete as “open cars.”

Three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin co-owns 23XI with Jordan and said they are prepared to send Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst to the track each week as open teams. But they still filed for a restraining order Monday and claimed that through discovery they learned NASCAR upon revocation planned to immediately begin the process of selling the six charters which would put “plaintiffs in irreparable jeopardy of never getting their charters back and going out of business.”

NASCAR said it has asked multiple times for settlement proposals but heard nothing. NASCAR also has no intention of re-negotiating the charter agreements held by 30 other teams.

Jordan has the money to keep 23XI running without charters, but FRM doesn’t have the same level of funding. Additionally, if the teams aren’t chartered, they will have to qualify on speed each week to make the field.

It won’t be an issue this weekend at Dover as fewer than the maximum 40 cars are entered. But should 41 cars show up anywhere this season, someone slow will be sent home.

“We’re not worried because our cars have the speed. We’ve always said we’re racing no matter what. If we have to race open, we have to race open,” Hamlin said at Sonoma Raceway last weekend. “We worked to get an injunction and obviously feel like Dec. 1 is all that matters.”

Legacy vs. RWR

This case is actually a dispute over agreed-upon terms for Ware to sell one of his two charters to Johnson and his partners at Knighthead Capital Management.

Ware this season is leasing a charter to RFK Racing and was already under agreement with that team to get the charter back in 2026, then lease RFK its second charter next season. He never had a charter to sell for 2026 unless he ceased operations.

Yet when he signed the contract with Legacy, Ware has said, he didn’t read it through and catch that the sale terms were for next season and not 2027, when he’d have both charters in his possession.

RWR is alleging Legacy pulled a bait-and-switch, and if true, it is on Ware for not seeing it in the contract he signed.

The curveball came when T.J. Puchyr, the Spire co-founder who now acts as a consultant and brokered the deal between Legacy and Ware, said last month he plans to buy Ware’s team. Legacy argued in court Monday it was blindsided by the news, that if Ware is selling then the charter rightfully belongs to them, and they urgently needed depositions before Ware sold his race team out from under them.

It didn’t help when Ware’s lawyers couldn’t answer questions about a potential sale: “I think you need to talk to your client,” the judge told them before warning Ware may be in contempt of court and ordering depositions for later this week.

Ware, meanwhile, apparently accepted the Legacy offer for his charter despite a second bid of more than $50 million from another party. With NASCAR indicating through discovery in the 23XI/FRM suit that it has interested buyers for the six charters, it is a seller’s market.

Johnson, with financial backing from Knighthead, is certain he will be getting the Ware charter one way or another to expand Legacy to three full-time Cup Series drivers.

“I’m not sure there is a plan B,” Johnson said of his confidence level at winning the case.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

In their third attempt for a preliminary injunction against NASCAR, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports on Monday petitioned U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that would ensure the two teams keep racing three chartered cars for the remainder of the 2025 Cup Series season and through a trial scheduled for December.

In a statement shared with Sportico, a NASCAR spokesperson called it “unfortunate” that “instead of respecting” the two previous defeats, 23XI and Front Row “are now burdening the District Court with a third motion for another unnecessary and inappropriate preliminary inunction.” NASCAR also claimed it has followed the judges’ recommendations that the parties try to settle. NASCAR said it has made “multiple requests” to 23XI and Front Row to try to reach a deal but “we have yet to receive a proposal from 23XI or Front Row.”

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In Monday’s filing, 23XI and Front Row attorney Jeffrey Kessler argued his clients should be granted the rights and face the obligations of the 2025 charter agreements without having to agree to a mutual release provision that would prevent the antitrust lawsuit.

Kessler wrote that public policy justifies the desired injunctive relief. He maintained that requiring 23XI—which is co-owned by Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin and Curtis Polk—and Front Row to sign the release would “deprive the most efficient antitrust enforcers (NASCAR teams) of remedies provided by the antitrust laws to challenge an unlawful monopoly as a condition of being able to compete at all.” Kessler further contended that, through pretrial discovery and expert testimony, his clients have cultivated a more robust and evidenced-based argument that NASCAR “has engaged in exclusionary acts designed to maintain its monopsony in the market for premier stock car racing.”

Kessler also insisted that while the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit last month vacated a preliminary injunction that had been in his clients’ favor, the appellate court did so without sufficiently addressing relevant public policy arguments. The Fourth Circuit stressed that the result that 23XI and Front Row seek is unprecedented in contract law—essentially compelling NASCAR to enter a new (and undesired) contract by requiring the association to supply the benefits of a charter to 23XI and Front Row without those teams, unlike charter teams, having to agree to a release of claims.

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It wasn’t the first setback for the antitrust suit. Last November, U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney denied 23XI and Front Row a preliminary injunction. He reasoned the alleged harm from racing without a charter was too speculative and uncertain. Along those lines, Whitney found that a possible loss of revenue, drivers and sponsors to 23XI and Front Row seemed more conjectural than concrete.

But a month later a new presiding judge, Bell, issued an injunction. Bell found 23XI and Front Row had sufficiently detailed prospective harms that would arise without an injunction. 23XI driver Tyler Reddick, for instance, suggested that the absence of a charter would cause a breach of his driver and personal services agreement while 23XI driver Bubba Wallace indicated he might switch teams to race for one with a charter. As mentioned above, however, the Fourth Circuit last month ruled that Bell erred in requiring NASCAR to effectively adhere to contractual terms it did not, and would, not offer.

Bell has given NASCAR until Wednesday to file a response to the temporary restraining order demand made by 23XI and Front Row. If Bell grants the teams a TRO, NASCAR will appeal the ruling to the Fourth Circuit and hope for another win at the appellate court.

Although a trial is scheduled for December, and although NASCAR claims 23XI and Front Row won’t engage in meaningful settlement talks, the odds of the parties reaching a deal before trial remain more likely than not. The parties have vast financial resources to pursue legal maneuverings, but at the end of the day, they are disputing core business issues: money and control. Chances are that as a trial date nears and as the prospect of Jordan, Hamlin, Polk, the teams’ drivers, NASCAR CEO Jim France and other NASCAR officials having to testify in court becomes more pressing, the parties find common ground.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — It’s the summer to sue in NASCAR, the sport where the on-track bumping and banging is in danger of being overshadowed by the action in the courtroom.

Two teams — one owned by retired NBA great Michael Jordan — are suing NASCAR over antitrust allegations. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are awaiting a federal court ruling before Sunday’s race in Delaware that could impact their ability to compete.

Meanwhile, seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson is battling tiny Rick Ware Racing and his lawyers at Legacy Motor Club went hard at Ware’s attorneys in a Monday hearing.

What is all the fighting about? Charters, which are at the heart of NASCAR’s business model. Having one is vital to a team’s survival.

The legal wrangling is only making the the charters skyrocket in value. When Spire Motorsports debuted in 2019, it had bought a charter for $6 million. Now, one of Spire’s founders brokered the now-disputed deal for Ware to sell one of his two charters to Legacy for $45 million.

Johnson is not enjoying the legal brawling, including the higher-profile antitrust fight. He called on those parties to settle.

“I’m just sitting back watching it all play out, learning a lot about the legal process and the amount of injunctions and appeals that can take place,” Johnson said. “It’s a big game of chess and I’m watching all the strategy that goes into it all.

“I would love to see a settlement of some kind. I really don’t think that getting into a knock-down, drag-out lawsuit is good for anybody.”

The NASCAR lawsuit

23XI and FRM filed a federal antitrust suit against NASCAR last year after they were the only two organizations out of 15 to reject NASCAR’s extension offer on charters.

The case has a Dec. 1 trial date, but in the meantime, the two teams are fighting to be recognized as chartered for the current season, which has 16 races left. A charter guarantees one of the 40 spots in the field each week, but also a base amount of money paid out each week.

Jordan and FRM owner Bob Jenkins won an injunction to recognize 23XI and FRM as chartered for the season, but the ruling was overturned on appeal earlier this month. Both teams were set to be stripped of a combined six charters on Wednesday, which would force them to compete as “open cars.”

Three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin co-owns 23XI with Jordan and said they are prepared to send Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst to the track each week as open teams. But they still filed for a restraining order Monday and claimed that through discovery they learned NASCAR upon revocation planned to immediately begin the process of selling the six charters which would put “plaintiffs in irreparable jeopardy of never getting their charters back and going out of business.”

NASCAR said it has asked multiple times for settlement proposals but heard nothing. NASCAR also has no intention of re-negotiating the charter agreements held by 30 other teams.

Jordan has the money to keep 23XI running without charters, but FRM doesn’t have the same level of funding. Additionally, if the teams aren’t chartered, they will have to qualify on speed each week to make the field.

It won’t be an issue this weekend at Dover as fewer than the maximum 40 cars are entered. But should 41 cars show up anywhere this season, someone slow will be sent home.

“We’re not worried because our cars have the speed. We’ve always said we’re racing no matter what. If we have to race open, we have to race open,” Hamlin said at Sonoma Raceway last weekend. “We worked to get an injunction and obviously feel like Dec. 1 is all that matters.”

Legacy vs. RWR

This case is actually a dispute over agreed-upon terms for Ware to sell one of his two charters to Johnson and his partners at Knighthead Capital Management.

Ware this season is leasing a charter to RFK Racing and was already under agreement with that team to get the charter back in 2026, then lease RFK its second charter next season. He never had a charter to sell for 2026 unless he ceased operations.

Yet when he signed the contract with Legacy, Ware has said, he didn’t read it through and catch that the sale terms were for next season and not 2027, when he’d have both charters in his possession.

RWR is alleging Legacy pulled a bait-and-switch, and if true, it is on Ware for not seeing it in the contract he signed.

The curveball came when T.J. Puchyr, the Spire co-founder who now acts as a consultant and brokered the deal between Legacy and Ware, said last month he plans to buy Ware’s team. Legacy argued in court Monday it was blindsided by the news, that if Ware is selling then the charter rightfully belongs to them, and they urgently needed depositions before Ware sold his race team out from under them.

It didn’t help when Ware’s lawyers couldn’t answer questions about a potential sale: “I think you need to talk to your client,” the judge told them before warning Ware may be in contempt of court and ordering depositions for later this week.

Ware, meanwhile, apparently accepted the Legacy offer for his charter despite a second bid of more than $50 million from another party. With NASCAR indicating through discovery in the 23XI/FRM suit that it has interested buyers for the six charters, it is a seller’s market.

Johnson, with financial backing from Knighthead, is certain he will be getting the Ware charter one way or another to expand Legacy to three full-time Cup Series drivers.

“I’m not sure there is a plan B,” Johnson said of his confidence level at winning the case.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

A security guard at Sonoma Raceway faces felony charges after a local racer, who uses a wheelchair, was injured in an encounter during Sunday’s NASCAR Toyota/Save Mart 350, officials said.

Alexander Rosiles, 27, of Stockton, was arrested around 3 p.m. following a confrontation with the victim and his partner, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office. Rosiles, charged with assault and battery, appeared briefly in Sonoma County Superior Court on Tuesday, where a judge set his plea for Aug. 12.

Court records list the victim as John Doe, but in a now-deleted Facebook post, family members identified him as Chase Johnson, 30, a well-known Penngrove sprint car driver who was paralyzed in a 2024 crash. Neither Johnson nor Sonoma Raceway officials responded to requests for comment.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, Johnson and his partner were exiting through an access point with valid passes when Rosiles blocked them.

“The guard pushed the victim, causing his wheelchair to tip over, resulting in the victim losing consciousness and sustaining injuries,” the Sheriff’s Office reported.

In the Facebook post, Johnson’s wife, Hayley Johnson, said the two were leaving and attempting to reach a handicap parking area when Rosiles allowed other people through but refused them access. When they asked to speak to a supervisor, she wrote, he declined — then first told them to leave, and moments later demanded they stay.

Rosiles then shoved Johnson, she wrote, flipping the wheelchair backward. Johnson struck his head on the pavement and lost consciousness for roughly 15 seconds.

He was treated at the track’s medical center before being transported to a hospital, where he remained overnight.

Rosiles remains in custody on $35,000 bail. Prosecutors also allege he violated the terms of a previous assault conviction from March 2019 in San Joaquin County.

A fourth-generation racer, Johnson has won more than 300 main events, including titles in Outlaw Karts and 360 Winged Sprint Cars. In August 2024, he crashed during the Gold Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, suffering multiple spinal fractures.

He underwent emergency surgery at UC Davis Medical Center and later spent five months in intensive rehabilitation at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, one of the nation’s top spinal cord injury hospitals.

“Anyone who knows Chase knows that he is more than just a figure in the racing community,” Hayley Johnson wrote in a GoFundMe campaign. “He’s a beacon of joy, kindness, and dedication.”

Since returning to Penngrove in early 2025, Johnson has continued physical therapy and training through SCI Fit, a specialized spinal cord injury center. In recent months, he has resumed attending local races as a spectator.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi