NASCAR has been accused of monopolizing stock car racing for over 60 years

Renowned antitrust and sports attorney Jeffrey Kessler called NASCAR the “posterchild of an illegal monopoly,” citing its long history of anti-competitive behavior dating back to 1961. He represents NASCAR teams 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports in their lawsuit against NASCAR and its owner, Jim France, over alleged monopolistic practices.

Major news rocked the NASCAR world on Wednesday after Front Row Motorsports and 23XI Racing, co-owned by basketball icons Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin and Curtis Polk, took legal action against the sport for “unfair” exercise of power.

The lawsuit arose after 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports declined to sign NASCAR's final charter proposal at Atlanta Motor Speedway last month. Negotiations between the teams had been going on for two years, with the main issue being NASCAR's refusal to grant permanent charters.

The lawsuit alleges that NASCAR, still privately controlled by the French family, has established an anti-competitive monopoly in stock car racing. This claim is supported by several examples from the sport's long history, including two notable incidents from the 1960s.

In 1961, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. handed down lifetime bans to Curtis Turner, then the sport's most popular driver, and two-time Cup Series champion Tim Flock. Eight years later, in 1969, Bill France Sr. held the first race at Talladega Superspeedway without many of his top drivers. Eventually, drivers from the Professional Drivers Association boycotted the event after France dismissed their safety concerns about the track.

Kessler didn't hold back in explaining what has been done to the sport in its 76 years of existence, even criticizing the French family for treating NASCAR like their “personal fiefdom.” Kessler spoke about the lawsuit on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Wednesday, as reported on X, saying:

“NASCAR is the poster child for being an illegal monopoly. It is the only premier stock car racing circuit in the country, perhaps even the world. She didn't get to this position by being the best, investing money, or having the best there is, with which no one competes.

“They did it by taking over their competitors, locking down the racetracks, going to all the teams that are independent contractors and telling them, 'You can't race in other people's races,' and putting restrictions on the cars there “They don't even take their next-gen car and put it in another race. All of that gives them this monopoly power.”

Asked whether the French family's ownership of NASCAR was a violation of the law from the start, Kessler said:

“Not per se, but it is the motivating factor as to why it (NASCAR) was run this way.”

“If you look at what the French family has done, they run it as if it were their personal fiefdom, where all the income and profits and TV contracts and money should largely go to them. In the end, the teams and drivers get just enough economic scraps to survive, and some of them can't survive.