Federal judge denies injunction for Michael Jordan's team in NASCAR antitrust case

Sport

Federal judge denies injunction for Michael Jordan's team in NASCAR antitrust case

2025-09-04 06:27 Last Updated At：06:31

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday denied two teams — one owned by NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan — a preliminary injunction in their antitrust suit against NASCAR to be recognized as chartered teams for the remainder of the season.

Judge Kenneth Bell of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina said there was no reason to issue 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports the injunction because NASCAR last Friday vowed not to sell the six charters the teams previously held until the end of the legal battle.

Bell has repeatedly said he doesn't want to rule on the likelihood of one side prevailing over the other, and reiterated that Wednesday.

“As the Court noted at the hearing on this motion, the Court believes that it is best not to provide its forecast of the Plaintiffs' likelihood of success on the merits, and thereby potentially bias the jury pool, unless it is necessary to do so, which is not here,” Bell wrote.

He also cautioned on what the landscape of NASCAR may look like if the case is not settled before trial.

“The uncertainty about what the 2026 season will look like unfortunately exists not just for the Parties, but for the other teams, drivers, crews, sponsors, broadcasters, and most regrettably, the fans,” he wrote.

NASCAR in a statement said the ruling "brings much-needed clarity to the remainder of the 2025 NASCAR season.

“For nearly 80 years, NASCAR and the France family have championed a bold vision by taking many personal and financial risks to build a sport that fuels livelihoods, inspires generations, and delivers world-class competition,” NASCAR said. "That commitment remains unwavering, and we will continue to defend the integrity of NASCAR and preserve the values that have guided its growth.

"To the fans: We won’t let this lawsuit distract from what matters most — delivering the unforgettable moments you’ve come to expect from our great sport and crowning the next NASCAR Cup Series champion on November 2.”

Trial is set for Dec. 1.

“With trial in this matter now less than three months away and the season on its proverbial last laps, NASCAR has agreed to extend those representations, in material effect,” Bell wrote in denying the motion for a preliminary injunction.

“This will effectively maintain the status quo pending a final decision on the merits and any permanent injunctive relief following trial (that is, Plaintiffs will be able to race and disputed Charters will not be sold or otherwise transferred.”

Jeffrey Kessler, attorney for the teams suing NASCAR, wasn't necessarily disappointed by the ruling.

“We are grateful that Judge Bell has made clear that the status quo is being maintained — protecting my clients’ rights to regain their charters if they prevail at trial and ensuring their ability to continue racing through the 2025 season based on NASCAR’s commitments," Kessler said. "Equally important, Judge Bell reaffirmed his broad power to order meaningful changes in NASCAR should we succeed, so that teams, drivers, sponsors, and fans can benefit from a sport positioned for long-term growth and restored competition.

"We are ready to present our case at trial in December.”

23XI Racing, the team owned by Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports, owned by entrepreneur Bob Jenkins, are suing NASCAR over antitrust claims regarding the charter system. A charter is the equivalent of a franchise and guarantees chartered cars both a spot in the 40-car field each week, as well as a significantly larger chunk of payouts.

NASCAR last September, after more than two years of contentious negotiations, presented teams with its final offer on charter extensions; 13 organization signed the agreements, but 23XI and Front Row refused.

The two teams initially won a preliminary injunction to be recognized as chartered for this season until a jury verdict on the antitrust allegations. That was overturned, and 23XI and FRM are currently competing as “open” teams. NASCAR wants the money back the teams were paid during the portion of the season they were chartered.

The teams also have appealed to have the chartered status reinstated, but NASCAR argued in court last week it has an interested buyer for one of the six charters previously held by 23XI and FRM, and it plans to immediately begin redistributing the charters. NASCAR backtracked after Thursday’s hearing, and a ruling on the preliminary injunction is expected to come from Bell this week.

NASCAR maintains that in holding off on redistributing charters, 23XI and FRM are no longer in danger of suffering irreparable harm. The teams countered Tuesday the threat still exists “because of the risk of breach claims from their irreplaceable drivers and loss of sponsors in the absence of charter rights.”

Tyler Reddick of 23XI has a clause in his contract that says the team would be in breach if his Toyota is not chartered. Jeffrey Kessler, the attorney for the two teams, indicated in court that Reddick has notified 23XI it is in breach.

Bell wrote in his Wednesday decision that “the loss of the ‘fixed’ Charter payouts and the uncertainty of ongoing relationships with drivers and sponsors can either be compensated with money damages at trial or is simply inherent in the risks associated with the lawsuit.”

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PHOTO ESSAY: Tibetans depart Nepal, a former safe haven transformed under Chinese pressure

DHARAMSHALA, India (AP) — Sonam Tashi refuses to let his son inherit the same fear.

Once active in the Free Tibet movement in Kathmandu, he found himself silenced. Unable to secure identity papers for his son, he left for the Tibetan capital in exile in India this year where his son will begin an education he can't have at home.

There he joined a rare protest in a city so reminiscent of what Kathmandu once was — where monks walk freely and the Dalai Lama’s portrait is not a risk.

An investigation by The Associated Press found that much of the Chinese technology used to surveil Tibetans in Nepal originally came from American companies. Despite warnings that Chinese firms were copying or outright stealing their designs, these firms built, customized, and expanded China’s surveillance apparatus over the past quarter-century.

Born in Nepal to Tibetan refugees, Tashi spent years on the frontlines of protest, a regular presence outside the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu. In the early days, arrests were brief — just a day or two — but by 2015, police were holding protesters for weeks. The crowds thinned. Eventually, Tashi was one of the last still showing up.

Surveillance trailed them beyond the protests.

Police began showing up hours before any gathering could start, demanding answers to questions they shouldn’t have known to ask: What are you doing tomorrow? Where are you going?

Cameras multiplied — around Tibetan settlements, in temples, even near private homes. In Boudha, the comfort of lingering beneath the stupa’s all-seeing eyes curdled.

Now 49, Tashi is focused on his 10-year-old son. Once an organizer, he’s now just a father trying to get his son out — before the net pulls tighter. On a winding bus ride toward the Indian border, Sonam stared out the window as terraced hills gave way to forest, thinking about what comes next.

“There are cameras everywhere,” he said. “There is no future.”

This surveillance has helped silence Nepal’s once-vibrant “Free Tibet” movement. Thousands of Tibetans once fled to Nepal every year, but last year, the number was down to the single digits, according to Tibetan officials in Nepal.

Across the world, in Washington, D.C., Namkyi’s eyes hold the loneliness that haunts Tibetans in exile.

Arrested at 15 and sentenced to three years in prison for protesting Chinese rule, Namkyi traveled to the U.S. to recount her story of what it means a lose a home.

Dressed in black, with two small pins — Tibetan and American — on her coat, she recounts how under withering surveillance, silence has become survival for Nepal's dwindling Tibetan community.

“They know they are being watched,” she said.

Her eyes shine, not with certainty, but with the fragile hope that being heard might one day matter.

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This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.