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Judge rejects 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports’ bid to speed up Discovery’s opening

Posted on by L. Dreeye
Judge rejects 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports’ bid to speed up Discovery’s opening

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports denied the motion for expedited discovery.

U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney ruled on the request on Thursday, October 31. Both teams, which are currently in the middle of an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR and its CEO Jim France, sought immediate access to documents and files from NASCAR’s top executives.

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These executives included Jim France (CEO), Lesa France Kennedy (Executive Vice Chairman), Ben Kennedy (Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer for Events and Events), Steve O’Donnell (Chief Operating Officer) , Steve Phelps (President) and Scott Prime (Vice President of Strategic Development).

Among the opening components desired by the teams were discussions of a mandatory release clause in the 2025 charter agreement, NASCAR’s decision to end negotiations with the team’s negotiating committee and the decision to make a take-it-or-leave-it offer to teams. .

The ruling comes ahead of an injunction hearing scheduled for Monday that will determine whether the two NASCAR Cup Series entities will be allowed to maintain their charters throughout the trial.

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“While the proposed discovery requests may help Plaintiffs demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits, they are not narrowly focused enough, and Plaintiffs contend that the record is sufficient to support their motion for preliminary injunction as it stands,” the ruling states.

With the injunction hearing less than a week away (scheduled for November 4), the court determined that collecting this information, covering an eight-year period, would indeed impose a significant burden on NASCAR, despite 23XI and Front’s lawsuit. Row Motorsports won’t do that.

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The issue of irreparable harm was another hurdle in the expedited discovery request for the teams, since they would have to prove it existed if the judge ruled against the motion. However, this has not been properly demonstrated.

“Plaintiffs appear to have misconstrued this factor,” the ruling said. “With respect to this factor, plaintiffs argue that they can demonstrate a likelihood of irreparable harm—presumably in support of their motion for a preliminary injunction—without access to expedited discovery, but seek expedited discovery to “create more false records.”

“That said, plaintiffs acknowledge that they do not actually need expedited discovery, at least for purposes of their motion for preliminary injunction.”

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The next step in the lawsuit against 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports will be a preliminary hearing for the injunction, which as previously mentioned will take place on Monday, November 4th. At that hearing, a judge will decide whether the two NASCAR Cup Series entities can continue to operate as chartered teams while the lawsuit unfolds.