rifan muazinCHARLOTTE, NC – The second day of the high-stakes antitrust trial pitting NASCAR against prominent team owners 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports saw NASCAR’s Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, Scott Prime, take the stand, revealing internal communications that suggested dissent within the sanctioning body’s leadership regarding the proposed charter terms.
The proceedings, held before Judge Kenneth D. Bell, delved into a series of unsealed emails and text messages that painted a picture of significant disagreement between senior NASCAR executives and the directives of CEO Jim France. These communications, presented as evidence by the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, Jeffrey Kessler, indicated that Prime, along with former COO Steve O’Donnell and former President Steve Phelps, harbored reservations about the financial and operational framework NASCAR intended to impose on Cup Series race teams.
One particularly revealing email from Prime to his colleagues highlighted a stark disparity in revenue distribution between NASCAR and Formula 1. Prime noted that while Formula 1 teams typically receive 50 percent of overall revenue, their NASCAR counterparts were slated to receive only 20 to 25 percent. This observation, Prime argued, underscored the validity of the team owners’ negotiation points, suggesting they "have a point."
The internal discussions, as evidenced by the unsealed messages, revealed a palpable frustration among some NASCAR executives. A text message thread from May 21, 2024, involving O’Donnell, Phelps, and Prime, laid bare these sentiments. O’Donnell recounted a conversation with Lesa France Kennedy, who had spoken with NASCAR legal counsel Gary Crotty and President Emeritus Mike Helton, as well as Jim France. O’Donnell noted that the meeting was deemed "productive" and that the goal was to "move the needle," with the expectation that teams would not receive everything they desired. However, O’Donnell also expressed his own reservations, questioning how NASCAR’s positions would foster growth for the sport and prepare it for future media rights renewals.
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Phelps’ response in the same thread was blunt, labeling the situation as "insanity" and referencing a chart prepared by Chief Legal Officer Amanda Oliver that showed "zero wins for the teams." He further described the proposed charter terms as leaving NASCAR "dead in the water" and ultimately resulting in a detrimental outcome for the sport’s future. Prime’s own contribution to the exchange characterized NASCAR’s approach as a "bold strategy" of offering minimal concessions while demanding broad compliance. O’Donnell lamented that this approach, supported by other leadership figures, was steering NASCAR towards a "comfortable 1996, fuck the teams, dictatorship, motorsport, redneck, southern, tiny sport."
Under direct questioning from Kessler, Prime acknowledged frustration stemming from the meeting with team owners and expressed regret for his choice of language. However, he maintained that the NASCAR board of directors did consider feedback and incorporated some team requests, though the plaintiffs’ counsel characterized these as minor concessions among thousands of proposed changes. Prime stated that NASCAR offered "significant protections" to the teams. Yet, the legal team representing 23XI and Front Row argued that fundamental issues such as charter permanency, increased revenue sharing, and a meaningful role in decision-making remained unaddressed, leading Kessler to assert that NASCAR had "kept all the power."
A significant portion of Prime’s testimony focused on his involvement in discussions surrounding the potential for a breakaway racing series. Kessler presented emails dating back to 2020 where Prime expressed concern about alternative series emerging, warning that they "could demonstrate to team owners and drivers that there are alternatives" and that NASCAR should "want to avoid a CART/IRL scenario." This reference alluded to the devastating open-wheel racing split in the 1990s that fractured North American open-wheel competition.
The discovery process also unearthed discussions within NASCAR leadership about implementing more extensive track exclusivity agreements with Speedway Motorsports (SMI) venues. The aim was to prevent these tracks from hosting rival racing series. Evidence suggested NASCAR actively prevented series like the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) from competing at SMI tracks, even when those tracks sought such events to alleviate debt.
When questioned about an email in which he thanked Amanda Oliver for her assistance with track exclusivity details, Prime stated he had limited knowledge of the specific agreements and did not directly communicate with tracks. He described his role as primarily gathering and presenting data for the broader NASCAR leadership. Kessler seized on Prime’s assertion of limited understanding of track and exclusivity clauses, especially given his reported salary of $200,000-$250,000 in 2020, which has since risen to $400,000. Kessler questioned the compensation for someone who merely compiled slides, to which Prime responded that it was "your opinion."
These exclusivity agreements, which eventually extended to two-year terms with four-year post-contract durations, were a strategic move to protect NASCAR’s interests. Prime acknowledged in an email that the previous single-year agreements left SMI "vulnerable to outside offers," implying potential competition from team-backed series or entities like SRX. Prime defended these agreements as necessary measures to safeguard valuable tracks and prevent their repurposing by entities like Amazon or Google, who might convert them into data centers or warehouses.
The court also heard about "Project Gold Codes," a contingency plan developed by NASCAR to address a scenario where multiple charter-holding teams might boycott races or refuse to sign the charter agreement for the 2025 Daytona 500. Prime characterized this as a standard "contingency plan." Furthermore, Prime revealed NASCAR’s consideration of proactively engaging with the Saudi Private Investment Fund to preempt them from potentially forming partnerships with the Race Team Alliance, SRX, or other racing entities.
Looking ahead, the trial is set to include testimony from Richard Childress, a prominent team owner who had previously threatened legal action over disparaging texts attributed to NASCAR President Steve Phelps. The unearthed messages suggested Phelps had called for Childress to be "taken out back and flogged" and referred to him as a "stupid redneck" who owed his fortune to NASCAR.
A notable development at the end of the day was Judge Bell’s address regarding a request from a non-party team owner who wished to testify without revealing the specifics of their financial situation. This owner had requested the court proceedings be sealed to prevent public and media access to their testimony, citing a desire to protect proprietary financial information. Judge Bell expressed his disinclination to seal the court, warning that such a move could jeopardize the trial’s integrity and potentially lead to a retrial. Instead, he instructed legal counsel to ensure testimony regarding financial records remains general, particularly for information not extensively detailed in discovery. Potential witnesses for this request include owners and executives such as Heather Gibbs, Rick Hendrick, Cal Wells, and Roger Penske. The individual in question was described as a supporter of the charter system who has nonetheless incurred significant financial losses under the current structure.
The antitrust trial is scheduled to resume on Wednesday morning, with NASCAR’s legal team set to cross-examine Scott Prime.
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