{"id":55778,"date":"2025-12-10T19:45:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T01:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=55778"},"modified":"2025-12-11T20:07:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T02:07:58","slug":"plaintiffs-rest-after-nascar-chairman-jim-france-concludes-testimony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/10\/plaintiffs-rest-after-nascar-chairman-jim-france-concludes-testimony\/","title":{"rendered":"Plaintiffs rest after NASCAR chairman Jim France concludes testimony"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

CHARLOTTE, N.C.\u2014The first phase of the \u201c23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports v. NASCAR\u201d ended Wednesday after the jury heard from NASCAR chairman and CEO Jim France, the plaintiffs\u2019 final witness after more than seven days of testimonies.<\/p>\n

Under questioning on cross-examination from NASCAR outside counsel Chris Yates, France reviewed his history in motorsports and the variety of roles he has played at both International Speedway Corporation and NASCAR, which was founded in 1948 by his father, Bill France Sr.<\/p>\n

France said he had learned succinct but valuable lessons from his father and mother, Anne B. France, and has relied on them as guiding principles in his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom\u2019s advice was \u2018Always pay your bills,\u2019\u201d France testified. \u201cDad\u2019s advice was \u2018Always do what you say you\u2019ll do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of France\u2019s testimony dealt with NASCAR Cup Series teams\u2019 desire for permanent charters in the 2025 charter agreement, a major point of emphasis on the part of plaintiffs\u2019 lead counsel Jeffrey Kessler, who had called France as an adverse witness and questioned him on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

France explained that he opposed permanent or \u201cevergreen\u201d charters because of the uncertainty of revenue streams, broadcast agreements and racing schedules.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not have a sightline to the future,\u201d said France, who characterized himself as a consensus builder among NASCAR\u2019s broad array of stakeholders.<\/p>\n

France also testified that visits to race shops and his own observation of the \u201carms race\u201d among teams to develop parts and pieces to find speed ultimately led to the development of the Gen-7 Cup race car, conceived as one of several cost-saving solution for NASCAR\u2019s premier division.<\/p>\n

Under aggressive re-direct from Kessler, who challenged France\u2019s effectiveness as a consensus builder, the NASCAR chairman acknowledged that he had started a defense fund many years ago for potential lawsuits that might arise but stated that the fund predated NASCAR\u2019s introduction of the charter system in 2016.<\/p>\n

France explained that the fund existed \u201cfor any type of litigation that would come along and cause an issue for the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

After concluding his questioning of France, Kessler proclaimed, \u201cAt this point, plaintiffs are happy to rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

For its first witness, the defense called NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer John Probst, who gave a lengthy account of the development and purpose of the Gen-7 car.<\/p>\n

One of the key elements of the case is whether NASCAR\u2019s restriction of the use of the Gen-7 car to NASCAR events constitutes anti-competitive behavior.<\/p>\n

Probst explained that NASCAR had spent approximately $14 million to date on the development of the car and had secured an array of patents on what has been referred to in the trial as \u201cIP\u201d or intellectual property.<\/p>\n

Defending the proprietary nature of the car, Probst told Kessler under cross-examination that \u201cI cannot think of a situation where Coke would create a new recipe and immediately give it to Pepsi.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASCAR executive vice president and chief financial officer Greg Motto followed Probst on the witness stand and clarified an issue that had been raised earlier in the trial\u2014the dividend paid to France family shareholders from NASCAR revenues.<\/p>\n

Motto explained that, because NASCAR is an S-Corporation, profits pass through to the individuals and are taxable as personal income. Hence, the vast majority of the dividends paid to NASCAR\u2019s owners go to satisfy tax obligations.<\/p>\n

The eighth day of the trial concluded Wednesday afternoon with expert testimony from professor of accounting Mark E. Zmijewski of the University of Chicago, called by the defense to challenge the methodology used by the plaintiffs\u2019 expert, economist Edward A. Snyder, in calculating the extent of damages 23XI and Front Row had suffered during the last four years of the 2016 charter agreement.<\/p>\n

Zmijewski testified that Snyder\u2019s use of Formula 1 as a benchmark for calculating the race teams\u2019 value was flawed and that NASCAR would have sustained significant losses had the sanctioning body paid the teams the $627-million annual amount Snyder suggested in his analysis in what he called the \u201cbut for world\u201d absent the alleged anti-competitive practices.<\/p>\n

The trial resumes Thursday morning. Among witness the defense is expected to call before resting are team owners Rick Hendrick and Roger Penske and 23XI principal Curtis Polk, long-time financial adviser to 23XI co-owner Michael Jordan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C.\u2014The first phase of the \u201c23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports v. NASCAR\u201d ended Wednesday after the jury heard from NASCAR chairman and CEO Jim France, the plaintiffs\u2019 final witness after more than seven days of testimonies. Under questioning on cross-examination from NASCAR outside counsel Chris Yates, France […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":55777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-55778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/364580.png?fit=575%2C278&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-evE","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55778"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55779,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55778\/revisions\/55779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}