NASCAR compared to NCAA in latest court filings

NASCAR has been compared to the NCAA in the ongoing court case it's fighting against 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.

The teams' attorney Jeffrey Kessler, who previously defeated the NCAA in the Supreme Court in NCAA v. Alston, brought up the college sports administrator in a scathing filing this week.

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While an antitrust case is unlikely to succeed if NASCAR is simply treated as a company choosing not to admit a team, rather than a market in its own right, Kessler and co. are arguing that the latter is more functionally the case.

Kessler argues that the market in this case is 'premier stock car racing', where 'NASCAR has precluded all entry' with only NASCAR bringing in the top teams and drivers.

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NCAA name dragged into NASCAR lawsuit

This is where Kessler brings in the NCAA, claiming that it is 'essentially is the relevant market for elite college football and basketball' without any 'viable substitutes'.

In the same vein, he added: “NASCAR cannot seriously argue that dirt track or amateur racing are substitutes for the top-tier stock car teams competing in the Cup Series.”

It is also being argued by the teams' side that they are likely to go out of business if the court allows NASCAR to award its charters to other teams following a Thursday hearing.

“Plaintiffs will indisputably suffer irreparable harm if NASCAR is allowed to carry out its plan to immediately sell their charters to other entities before trial," they wrote, "because that would put 23XI and Front Row out of business following the 2025 Cup Series season.

"This Court has already found that it is not economically viable to race as open teams on a long-term basis, and NASCAR did not challenge that finding on appeal.”

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