There have been talks behind the scenes in NASCAR for months, as top teams have warned that the business model has not changed with rising costs and tighter margins. Tensions had peaked in 2022, when a coalition of teams led by voices like Jeff Gordon had met with league officials and openly asked whether the sport could adapt to their struggles.

Expectations were high that NASCAR might respond, maybe even overhaul how revenue and charter deals worked. But now, after years of negotiations and a landmark lawsuit from two of those teams, NASCAR’s president, Steve O’Donnell, has admitted in court that the leadership never intended to shift direction, deceiving Gordon’s hopes.

Jim France never wanted real change

Thursday morning in Charlotte, NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell took the stand and basically handed the plaintiffs their case on a silver platter. Jeffrey Kessler, the lawyer for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, walked him back to that early 2022 meeting where four big team representatives sat down with NASCAR brass.

Jeff Gordon from Hendrick, Curtis Polk from 23XI, Dave Alpern from Joe Gibbs, and Steve Newmark from RFK all laid out the same problem: running a Cup team costs about twenty million a year, and the system is not keeping up.

O’Donnell said he took it seriously at the time, even admitted he had no reason to doubt the numbers. The teams wanted fairer revenue, more transparency, and a real shot at contending without scraping by on sponsors alone. Then Kessler asked the question that stopped the room:

Did Ben Kennedy, NASCAR’s strategy guy, tell Gordon that Jim France was open to a new economic model? O’Donnell’s answer was short and damning: no.

That March meeting kicked off years of back-and-forth that led to the 2025 charter deal. NASCAR sent out a 112-page contract on a Friday at 6 p.m. with a midnight deadline. Teams had barely a few hours to sign or walk away.

Front Row’s Bob Jenkins said he was out to dinner with his parents, had no cell service, and came back to dozens of missed calls.

“There was a lot of passion, a lot of emotion,” he testified. “Especially from Joe Gibbs, he felt like he let me down by signing. Not a single owner said, ‘I was happy to sign it.’ Not a single one.”

Jenkins got an extension, but Steve Phelps made it clear: negotiations were over. “We are not reopening the document.” Teams could not even get lawyers to review it in time.

O’Donnell’s testimony dug deeper. He talked about the charter system, how teams signed up for it willingly, how values have gone up, and how the new media deal gives everyone more money. But when Kessler pressed on whether NASCAR’s exclusivity on tracks and suppliers was anti-competitive, O’Donnell could not dodge forever. He confirmed the “take it or leave it” nature of the deal, and the courtroom felt the weight of it. The entire blame falls on Jim France, who’s seen as the main culprit behind this.

The evidence kept piling up, like emails about Gen 6 lacking IP protection, so NASCAR locked everything down with Next Gen. Internal messages where O’Donnell and others worried teams were “playing with fire” by not signing. Lists of backup plans if everyone walked: limit charters to the first thirty two signers, kill them altogether, go open entry, or turn the sport into “Project Gold Codes” where NASCAR owns it all.

Jeff Gordon and the others walked into that 2022 meeting thinking real change was possible. O’Donnell just confirmed what a lot of them feared: it never was. The day before O’Donnell testified, Front Row’s Bob Jenkins took the stand and did not hold back. He said the charter offer hit like a slap, a 112-page document dropped at 6 p.m.

Bob Jenkins says the charter deadline felt like a gun to the head

Friday came with a midnight deadline for them. No time to call lawyers, no chance to read it properly.

“No attorney on the East Coast was available to review it,” he said.

He was out to dinner with his parents, no signal, and when he finally got back to the world, his phone was exploding.

“There was a lot of passion, a lot of emotion,” Jenkins told the jury. “Especially from Joe Gibbs, he felt like he let me down by signing. Not a single owner said, ‘I was happy to sign it.’ Not a single one.”

Joe Gibbs Racing, Hendrick, all the big names felt the same. Jenkins got an extension, but Phelps made sure everyone knew it was for review only. Negotiations were done.

Jenkins called it a “take it or leave it” deal that felt like a gun to the head. Teams have half-billion-dollar facilities, long-term sponsors, and hundreds of jobs on the line. Walking away is not an option. Signing blind is the only one left.

The trial is set for three weeks, but appeals will probably stretch it for years. O’Donnell’s “no” to real change and Jenkins’ feeling “hurt” by the deadline are all connected. Teams asked for fairness, got a contract with hours to sign, and now they are in court because the answer was always no.