Michael Jordan’s racing team, 23XI Racing, has reportedly been sued by NASCAR for allegedly working to scheme their way into receiving preferential treatment.

In the lawsuit filed on Wednesday, March 4, and obtained by The Athletic, Jordan’s team and his longtime business partner, Curtis Polk, are reportedly accused of acting like “an illegal cartel.”

The lawsuit also names racing team Front Row Motorsports as being part of the alleged plan. 

NASCAR claims the two teams “agreed to a scheme to pressure NASCAR to accept their collusive terms, including by engaging in media campaigns, interfering with NASCAR’s broadcast agreement negotiations, threatening boycotts of NASCAR events and engaging in a group boycott of a NASCAR Team Owner Council Meeting,” the outlet reports. 

The lawsuit alleges that Polk was the driving force behind the effort. 

Polk allegedly represented “all teams in negotiations, coordinating their conduct, and threatening teams that considered leaving the conspiracy and interfering and negatively affecting NASCAR’s attempts to renew its media rights agreements.”

The filing was a countersuit to a lawsuit filed in October 2024 by Bob Jenkins, who owns Front Row Motorsports. In addition to his connection to the racing world, Jenkins is deeply connected to the Yum! Brand family of restaurants and owns hundreds of KFC, Taco Bell, Long John Silver’s and A&W locations.

Jenkins’ lawsuit reportedly accused NASCAR and the company’s CEO, Jim France, of using “anticompetitive and exclusionary practices” to “enrich themselves at the expense of the premier stock car racing teams.”

The legal battle is all centered around NASCAR’s charter system which, according to The Athletic, is “the sport’s version of franchises that assures the holder of a charter certain financial guarantees in addition to a starting position in all 36 races in NASCAR’s premier Cup Series.”

Per The Athletic, “NASCAR is asking the court for triple damages as well the elimination of the guaranteed starting positions for 23XI and Front Row Motorsports into Cup Series races if the groups continue litigation aiming to make the Charter Agreements unlawful under antitrust laws.”

In a statement to Us Weekly by Jeffrey Kessler, attorney for 23XI and Front Row Motorsports, the lawsuit is “a meritless distraction and a desperate attempt to shift attention away from its own unlawful, monopolistic actions.”

“NASCAR agreed to the joint negotiations that they now attack,” the statement continued. “When those joint negotiations failed, they used individual negotiations to impose their charter terms, which most of the teams decided they had no choice but to accept.  My clients’ lawsuit has always been about transforming NASCAR into a more competitive and fair sport for the benefit of drivers, fans, sponsors and teams because of their love of the sport. Every major sport goes through a transition to competition when antitrust claims are asserted, and that moment has come for NASCAR.”

Kessler asserted the countersuit “changes nothing” and concluded, “We are confident in the strength of our case and look forward to presenting it at trial.”