Ken de la Bastide: NASCAR involved in anti-trust lawsuit

Nov. 5—This has been an interesting week for NASCAR as the championship round is set to take place at Phoenix.

The sanctioning body is dealing with a pending anti-trust lawsuit filed by the race team partially owned by Michael Jordan.

The dispute centers around the charter system used by NASCAR that guarantees teams a spot on the starting grid.

The 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports teams did not apply for a charter for the 2025 season contending NASCAR should be paying more for teams competing at the various races.

Without the charter, the teams could lose drivers, sponsors and potentially a spot on the starting grid.

Since most of the Cup races don’t have a full field on race day, the lack of a charter might not be that great a loss.

The problem for the team owners is if sponsors become concerned the cars with their logos on them won’t make the race and therefore lose any promotional value from the sponsorship.

The teams have asked for a preliminary injunction which will allow them to have charters, despite missing the deadline.

NASCAR’s position is the teams missed the deadline, so they shouldn’t be awarded a charter.

Now a judge will make the final decision.

Last weekend at Martinsville, Ryan Blaney raced his way into the championship round with a victory.

But the problem was when Christopher Bell went to pass Bubba Wallace on the final lap and rode the outside retaining wall through the final two corners of the race.

At the unofficial end of the race, Bell was tied with William Byron for the fourth and final spot in the Chase field.

Officials ruled Bell’s move was a safety concern and placed him as the last car on the lead lap at the finish.

That promoted Byron to the championship round along with Blaney, Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick.

The decision by NASCAR could not be appealed.

IN OTHER RACING NEWS

Anderson’s Greg VanAlst had his best career finish with the Xfinity Series at Martinsville.

He came home 26th, the last car on the lead lap, and will be competing this weekend in Phoenix.

Anderson Speedway officials have announced “Winter Blast,” a race date for Jan. 4 with the Ford Division in oval and figure-8 action and the Marcum Welding Front Wheel Drive division in figure-8 and enduro action.

Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.