CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins testified Wednesday in the federal antitrust case against NASCAR that he was “honestly very hurt” by a “take-it-or-leave-it” offer on a new charter agreement that came with a deadline of mere hours to sign the 112-page document.
Jenkins, alongside 23XI Motorsports, is suing NASCAR over antitrust claims for the charter agreement that was presented on the eve of the 2024 playoffs and went into effect this year. He said he was out to dinner with his parents and had no cell signal when the charter offer came in.
When he finally got phone service, he had dozens of missed calls and texts about the charter agreements and reached out to several rival owners.
“There was a lot of passion, a lot of emotion, especially from Joe Gibbs, he felt like he had to sign it,” Jenkins testified. “Joe Gibbs felt like he let me down by signing. Not a single owner said, ‘I was happy to sign it. Not a single one.’”
Jenkins said the charter agreements arrived at 6 p.m. Friday with a midnight deadline to sign them. He felt the timing was deliberate as “no attorney on the East Coast was available to read a 112-page document.”
He claimed NASCAR “knew we had to blindly sign it. Some of these owners have $500-$600 million facilities, long-term sponsors. They couldn’t walk away from that.”
Jenkins asked for and received an extension on signing but testified NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps made clear it was for review purposes only and told Jenkins, “negotiations are concluded. We are not re-opening the document.”
Jenkins, a fast-food franchise owner, plans to hand Front Row Motorsports down to his four sons so he testified he spoke to the two eldest about the charter agreement. He explained that 13 of 15 organizations had signed, but that he really did not believe the charter offer was a good deal and did not want to sign.
When they agreed with him, he joined Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, the owners of 23XI, in suing NASCAR.
Front Row was one of the team that received original charter agreements in 2016 when the system was created. He didn’t love the deal then but felt it was a step in the right direction in bolstering the health of the top stock car racing series in the United States.
He felt the 2025 agreement went “virtually backward in so many ways.
“It was insulting, it went so far backward. NASCAR wanted to run the governance with an iron fist, it was like taxation without representation,” he testified. “NASCAR has the right to do whatever it wants.”
Front Row and 23XI have accused NASCAR of being a monopolistic bully in violation of federal antitrust laws in this landmark antitrust case that could rewrite the framework of the sport. The teams contend NASCAR is a monopoly that has handcuffed them with a no-win revenue model.
The charter agreement that took effect this year ended more than two years of bitter negotiations in which neither side budged. The deal fell short of the requests made by all 15 teams, but 13 teams still signed under the belief they’d lose their protected status as a charter — which guarantees both entry into every race and a defined share of the purse.
Jenkins has never turned a profit since launching his NASCAR team in the early 2000’s and estimates he’s lost $100 million even while winning the Daytona 500 in 2021. But he said he grew up a NASCAR fan, was a charter member of the Dale Earnhardt fan club beginning with Earnhardt’s rookie season, and lived out a dream in becoming a team owner.
He testified he’s fighting for NASCAR to be healthy and stable — for the Florida-based France family that owns it and all the participants.
“This is not about bashing the France family,” Jenkins testified. “They’ve made a lot of great decisions. This charter is not one of them.”
He said his fellow owners agree.
“100% of the owners think the charter system is good,” Jenkins said. “The charter agreement is not.”
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press
