Kenneth Bell, the U.S. District Court Judge overseeing the antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR brought by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, ruled on Wednesday that NASCAR will get certain discovery material they seek from the teams not involved in the suit.
NASCAR subpoenaed the 13 teams that signed its charter agreement in September for financial information regarding how they operate their organizations. The subpoena was for records and information from the past 11 years, and information that would include the money teams bring in and spend, including payments made to its employees and drivers.
Kaulig Racing submitted the information, but the other 12 teams argued in court Tuesday against being forced to do so, and even went as far as saying it violates the charter agreement. Bell heard those arguments Tuesday before making his Wednesday ruling.
However, Bell ordered that only “certain information” would be produced.
The details of the discovery order are:
1. On or before Noon on June 27, 2025, NASCAR and the Teams shall jointly select an independent accounting firm to serve as a neutral party to facilitate the production of anonymized information. In the event the Parties are unable to select an accounting firm, they should each suggest one name to the Court by that deadline.
2. As soon as reasonably practicable (as the Teams committed to do at oral argument), each of the Non-Party Racing Teams must separately provide to the chosen accountant its annual top-line financial data (total revenue, total costs, and net pr ofits/losses) on an anonymized, average per-car basis for each year dating back to 2014. Sponsorship income must be included by the Teams as part of total revenue.
3. To avoid the production of irrelevant information, the Teams are required to make a good faith effort to limit the financial information produced to operations associated with fielding full-time cars in the Cup Series (for example, revenue or expenses tied to ancillary business lines or non-Cup Series racing activities should not be produced).
4. The Accountant should be directed to confidentially produce to NASCAR – but not to the Non-Party Teams – a spreadsheet listing the per-car annual averages for each team without identifying the team associated with each set of numbers. The document must include a Highly Confidential Attorneys Eyes Only designation that also permits use by NASCAR’s and Plaintiffs’ experts.
5. The cost of the Accountant shall be borne by NASCAR. Otherwise, all parties must bear their own expenses, including attorneys’ fees.
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports were the only two teams that did not sign the charter agreement. The joint lawsuit was filed in October.
There is mediation set for NASCAR and 23XI Racing and Front Row later this summer. The trial date is set for December 1.
