NASCAR commissioner hits back at 23XI Racing lawsuit

NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps has opened up on the headline-grabbing lawsuit filed against the league by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.

The antitrust case has been working its way through the courts for months ahead of a December 1st trial, despite repeated pleas from U.S. District Court judge Kenneth D. Bell for both sides to find a settlement.

Phelps claimed bafflement as to the reasons the suit was brought against the league, insisting NASCAR 'don't believe' there's any antitrust case to answer.

He also defended the revenue share to the teams, claiming that increased money given to teams proves a lack of monopolistic behaviour.

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NASCAR commissioner: We don't believe it’s an antitrust case

He told CNBC: “So the suit was brought by 23XI which is the company that the majority owner is Michael Jordan. Minority owner is Denny Hamlin, who’s one of our drivers. Very successful driver. Won 58 cup races. He’s a tremendous talent.

“Listen, I’m not sure why they decided to bring a suit. And there’s another team called Front Row that also partnered with them on this suit. It is an antitrust case. We don’t believe it’s an antitrust case."

Phelps continued: "There was a significant increase in revenue that the teams got. So over the period of time, I think that the increase that we offered the race team contract to contract was an increase of 73%.

“That’s a significant increase. If you have, in my opinion, if you’re a monopolist, right, and you have that monopolist behavior, you’re not going to increase by 73% you’re actually going to go backwards, because you have that ability to do it.

“For us, that’s not what we wanted to do, because we need healthy race teams. Healthy race teams puts on better racing.”

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