NASCAR antitrust trial continues with Front Row Motorsports owner testimony

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – Another day of federal court wrapped up for Michael Jordan and his race team on Tuesday as 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are suing NASCAR, alleging the racing giant is a monopoly and does not allow for fair competition in the field.

For the second day, Scott Prime, an executive vice president and chief strategy officer for NASCAR, was on the stand. His testimony lasted nearly seven hours over the course of two days.

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Prime was a witness for the race teams and NASCAR.

On Wednesday morning, lawyers for the race teams asked Prime about what was called the “goodwill provision” in some of the charter negotiations. Lawyers called it a non-compete.

According to documents introduced as evidence, in the rule for the charters, if a team were to leave or give up a charter, under the provision, they would not be allowed to join a competing race series for one year.

Then it was time for NASCAR’s lawyers to question him.

They reviewed Prime’s work in the charter set up and negotiations. Prime testified that he thought the charters were a “huge step and transformation of the industry” and called it a “stepping stone” to allow the sport to grow.

He also testified about the charter negotiations for 2025, and Prime said teams boycotted one of the negotiations meetings, something he called “disappointing.”

In the afternoon, the other plaintiff, Robert Jenkins, took the stand. Jenkins owns Front Row Motorsports, the other team that did not sign the 2025 charter for NASCAR.

Jenkins talked about his love and passion for the sport, and how he got involved in racing.

He also talked about the charter system, saying he was initially in favor of it to help give the sport stability. Jenkins acknowledged he wanted to see some changes for 2025.

Jenkins testified about the charter agreement that was presented last year in what he called a “take it or leave it offer”, and says he felt pressure to sign it with little notice.

Jenkins also testified of the five or six of the team owners he talked with, none of them were happy with the terms and he testified they told him they “felt like they had to sign it”.

He felt the charter went “backwards”, which is why he says he did not sign it at the end of 2024.

During cross-examination, a lot of time was spent with NASCAR’s lawyers asking about Jenkins’ team finances and sponsorships, and even some of the contracts with drivers and sponsors.

It was also revealed at one point that Jenkins and Denny Hamlin, a co-owner of team 23XI, were communicating about merging the two teams back in 2021.

The trial is expected to last two to three weeks.

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