For months, testimony from owners, lawyers, and executives has painted a picture of tension that long predated the NASCAR charter lawsuit. Layer by layer, the trial has revealed how negotiations around the Next Gen car, IP control, and the 2025 charter agreement became increasingly strained. Owners testified about last-minute deadlines, lack of legal review windows, and what they described as “take it or leave it” conditions. But one member from 23XI wasn’t going to take it so easily.

On Wednesday in Charlotte, NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell took the stand, and what came out was one of the trial’s most raw and personal moments. Questioned by Jeffrey Kessler, the lawyer for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, O’Donnell walked back to a tense 2022 meeting with team leaders that set the tone for everything that followed.

O’Donnell recalls the “most difficult meeting” of his 30 years

The group included Jeff Gordon from Hendrick Motorsports, Curtis Polk from 23XI, Dave Alpern from Joe Gibbs Racing, and Steve Newmark from RFK. They laid out the hard truth: running a Cup team costs about twenty million a year, and the current setup wasn’t sustainable. They wanted fairer revenue, more transparency, and a real chance to compete without scraping by.

O’Donnell said he took the concerns seriously, even agreed the numbers sounded right. But when Kessler asked if Jim France, NASCAR’s chairman, was open to a new economic model, O’Donnell’s answer was a blunt no. Ben Kennedy, NASCAR’s strategy VP, had told Gordon yes during the meeting. O’Donnell confirmed that was wrong.

The exchange with Curtis Polk, Michael Jordan’s business partner and 23XI’s main voice in talks, stuck with O’Donnell. He called it “the most difficult meeting I’ve had in NASCAR in 30 years.”

Polk was aggressive, unyielding, and business-focused, yelling at times and even threatening to kick O’Donnell out of the room. O’Donnell said Polk’s approach felt like a power grab, not a partnership.

That meeting sparked years of negotiations that led to the 2025 charter deal. NASCAR sent a 112-page contract on a Friday at 6 p.m. with a midnight deadline. Front Row owner Bob Jenkins was out to dinner with his parents, with no cell service, and came back to a phone full of panic.

“There was a lot of passion, a lot of emotion,” Jenkins 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: review only, no more changes. “Negotiations are concluded. We are not reopening the document.” Teams couldn’t even get lawyers to look it over in time. Jenkins called it a “take it or leave it” deal that felt like a gun to the head. With half-billion-dollar facilities and long-term sponsors on the line, walking away wasn’t real.

O’Donnell’s testimony dug into the charter system, how teams signed up willingly, how values rose, and how the new media deal gives more money. But when pressed on exclusivity for tracks and suppliers, he couldn’t dodge the “take it or leave it” reality.

Emails showed Gen 6 lacking IP protection, so Next Gen locked everything down. Internal messages had O’Donnell and others calling team talks “disappointing” and listing doomsday plans if everyone walked: limit charters to the first thirty-two signers, kill them, go open entry, or make “Project Gold Codes” where NASCAR owns it all. Phelps replied, “They are playing with fire.”

Jeff Gordon and the others walked into that 2022 room thinking change was possible. O’Donnell just confirmed it never was. The day after O’Donnell’s testimony, former driver Kenny Wallace went on his YouTube channel and didn’t hold back.

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Kenny Wallace says 23XI has the edge

With Michael Jordan possibly testifying Friday, Wallace thinks 23XI and Front Row have the upper hand right now.

“I hate to say this,” he said. “I think 23XI and Front Row have the edge right now. I go back to what Denny Hamlin said. ‘Documents don’t lie.’ Now they can get on that stand and talk all day long. But I believe this case is going to be about documents.”

Kenny Wallace said hearsay doesn’t matter in the digital age. Emails, texts, financials — those are the real stories. The plaintiffs’ 44-page exhibit list has the 2025 charter, executive chats, media deals, track photos, and business papers. It all shows the squeeze on teams.

Take 23XI. Their revenue jumped from 27.8 million in 2021 to 62.2 million in 2024, mostly from sponsors. They made 3.5 million profit in 2023 but lost 2.1 million in 2024. Hamlin testified that it costs nearly $20 million a season per car. Even a team with Jordan’s name struggles to pay bills.

Wallace thinks those numbers, plus the texts and emails, will decide it. O’Donnell’s “no” to change, Jenkins’ “hurt” by the deadline. It’s all connected. Teams asked for fairness, got a contract with hours to sign, and now they’re in court because the answer was always no.