The fight between NASCAR and 23XI Racing, plus Front Row Motorsports, is about to move from the garage to a Charlotte courtroom on December 1. What started as a charter dispute has turned into a full-blown antitrust lawsuit that could change how stock-car racing works forever.

Two teams, one co-owned by Michael Jordan, say NASCAR runs an illegal monopoly. NASCAR says the teams just want more money. Though the judge’s decision will matter anyway, journalist Bob Pockrass mentioned key challenges that both NASCAR and the teams could face.

The biggest hurdles lying ahead for both parties

The plaintiffs have some strong cards. Discovery turned up emails and messages where NASCAR executives talked about using charters and track access as leverage to make teams sign. The kind of tone they used to address team owners and others hasn’t gone well with anyone in the sport. That kind of language is gold in a monopoly case.

Next is the exclusivity clauses for tracks. When NASCAR signs contracts with the tracks, it doesn’t allow them to host races from other competing series.

The teams also point to the rules that lock them into NASCAR-only parts suppliers, while almost all the TV money goes into NASCAR’s pocket.

Add in the Next Gen car’s sky-high costs, and the fact that most teams still lose money every year. All these reasons are enough for 23XI and Front Row Motorsports to show a pattern that NASCAR squeezes everyone so that no real competition can ever start.

But NASCAR isn’t walking in empty-handed. First, every team, including 23XI and FRM, happily signed the charter agreements when they were new.

Second, charter values have gone up, not down, and the new media deal that most teams took gives them 62 percent more cash.

To a judge, that can look like a system that’s improving, not strangling. The biggest legal mountain for the two teams is simple: they don’t just have to prove they’re hurting, they have to prove competition itself is hurting. In other words, it’s not enough to say “we want a bigger slice.” They have to show the whole pie is rigged.

The court already made one huge call: it agreed that “premier stock-car racing” is its own market and NASCAR is the only buyer in town. That helps 23XI and FRM a lot. They also won a temporary ruling that let them keep racing under old charter rules while the case played out, even though that got overturned later. Still, NASCAR can argue this is just two teams trying to negotiate with a lawsuit instead of a signature, and courts hate that.

If the teams win big, charters could become truly permanent, parts suppliers could open up, tracks could host whoever they want, and maybe even a rival series could get a real chance.

If NASCAR wins big, the current setup could get a stamp of approval, and Jim France and the family’s grip will surely get tighter. Most people expect something in the middle, a settlement with some give on both sides, but nobody is blinking yet.

Even if the trial wraps up, the story is far from over.

This lawsuit probably won’t end in December

Legal expert Michael McCann made it clear that whoever loses in Charlotte will almost certainly appeal to the Fourth Circuit, and the loser there could take it all the way to the Supreme Court. Bob Pockrass figures the whole thing could drag on for two years or longer, and any appeal could add another year on top. In other words, drivers and teams might be retired before we get a final answer.

This week, 23XI named Michael Jordan as its official corporate representative, meaning the basketball legend gets to sit in court for every witness, every day. When the suit was filed back in October 2024, Jordan didn’t hold back on why they’re doing this. Now he’ll be in the front row while lawyers fight over whether the sport he invested in is fair or fixed.

From emails that sound like leverage to appeals that could last half a decade, this case is messy, expensive, and personal. The garage is split, sponsors are nervous, and fans just want to know who’ll be on track in 2026 and under what rules.

One thing is sure. When the gavel falls in December, it’ll be more like the green flag on a very long race than the checkered flag on the fight.