Ever since the 2025 NASCAR season concluded in early November, the entire focus of the sport has shifted quickly to a pressing matter at hand. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports launched an all-out legal attack on NASCAR, focusing solely on exposing the sport’s monopolistic control over the stock car racing market.
Following a year of legal battles and a subsequent jury trial that lasted just over a week, NASCAR ultimately decided to fold and agree to settlement talks in a landmark moment. Nearly two months after the settlement, a new revelation behind the settlement shows just how bad things could’ve gone for NASCAR had the sport not settled.
Legal Experts Reveal the Terrible Fate That Awaited NASCAR Had They Not Settled
What started as a relatively strong lawsuit for NASCAR quickly became the sport’s worst nightmare, as more and more information continued to come to light every week. Things became so bad at one point for the sport that Jim France’s ‘brick wall’ testimony all but proved to be the undoing of their entire defence, leading to NASCAR agreeing to settle the case before the jury delivered its verdict.
While this was seen as the primary reason behind the decision to settle, new information has come to light, thanks to the legal experts at Sports Business Journal. According to the experts, had NASCAR not settled, the sport would have been in for a terrible time, and the settlement came at a staggering cost.
According to the report, NASCAR is likely to have paid out millions in damages to 23XI and FRM, both of which had hired different top firms to represent them in court. However, the experts argue that it provided NASCAR with much-needed certainty, rather than relying on the outcome determined by the Judge and jury.
Meegan Hollywood, an antitrust litigator, told SBJ that NASCAR paid out 10 to 25% of the requested $365 million in damages to the two teams. Meanwhile, another litigator, who chose to remain anonymous, claimed that the teams settled for nothing less than 50% of the amount ($182.5 million).
Hollywood further noted that NASCAR was potentially facing a billion-dollar payout (had the jury given its verdict), meaning the sport would have faced a substantial financial loss.
In addition to the payout, the approval of the evergreen charter system also played a key role in saving the future of NASCAR. With the sport agreeing to the system, they were able to have a bit more control over how the changes would be made.
Had that not been the case, NASCAR would have had to implement the court-mandated modifications to the structure, allowing teams to have more internal control over things than the sport would have desired.
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Moreover, the private text chains and the e-mails that had gone public were a “smoking gun” situation for NASCAR, with the defense lawyers having no way to deflect the allegations. The unnamed defence lawyer revealed that such conditions lead to a scenario where jury members who struggle to keep up with the minute details of the case focus on the bigger picture.
And with the leaked messages painting an unfavorable picture for NASCAR, the jury would likely have sided against the sport in its ultimate verdict. However, now that the lawsuit is settled, no one is even discussing those messages, allowing the sport and its top management to save face.
Ultimately, Hollywood reports that NASCAR will now receive advice from its lawyers on how to adjust contracts and rules in the new era (before the 2026 season begins) to avoid any future antitrust litigation.
