NASCAR has filed a motion to amend its counterclaim against 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports based on information found during discovery.
In its motion, NASCAR says that after the deadline for filing its counterclaim, the teams “produced more than 200,000 pages of emails, texts, and memoranda. Those documents indisputably confirm what NASCAR alleged in its counterclaim: 23XI, Front Row, and Curtis Polk knowingly entered into illegal agreements with other teams on issues such as fixing the compensation that they received from NASCAR and allocating how that compensation would be divided among the co-conspirator teams.” It was carried out, as NASCAR alleges from the paper trail, by using Jonathan Marshall of the Race Team Alliance (RTA) as a conduit.
NASCAR wants to amend its counterclaim to include the documents. The counterclaim was filed on March 5 and alleges conspiracy and Sherman Act violations.
Polk, a co-owner of 23XI Racing, was included in the counterclaim. In its new motion, NASCAR continued to outline its involvement by saying the documents confirm that he “was the ringleader of the concerted effort to set compensation received by the teams, boycott NASCAR events, interfere with NASCAR’s negotiations with media partners, and reach unlawful agreements.”
The background portion of the amendment motion contains many redacted details. The section lays out the chain of events and actions from Polk and the race teams regarding the new charter agreement.
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed a joint lawsuit against NASCAR in October, alleging anticompetitive practices and a monopoly of the sport. The two teams were the only ones not to sign the 2025 charter agreement.
NASCAR was denied in January in requesting that the lawsuit be dismissed. 23XI Racing and Front Row filed for a dismissal of NASCAR’s counterclaim at the end of March.
A trial date is set for the antitrust lawsuit for Dec. 1.
