Connect with us

Published

on

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The two teams suing NASCAR over an antitrust complaint were granted a preliminary injunction Wednesday that allows them to compete as chartered teams in the 2025 season.

23XI Racing, the team owned by NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports refused in September to sign take-it-or-leave it revenue sharing offers made by NASCAR just 48 hours before the start of the playoffs.

A charter is essentially a franchise and guarantees prize money, a spot in the field each week, and other protections.

The teams had filed an antitrust suit alleging NASCAR is “monopolistic bullies” and had been denied in federal court in November a request to be recognized as “chartered” teams as the suit continues.

23XI and Front Row can now sign the charter agreements and still pursue the lawsuit. They also each were granted permission to purchase additional charters from Stewart Haas Racing, which closed its four-team shop at the end of the 2024 season, and NASCAR must approve the transfers to those teams.

” YESSSSSSS!!!!!!!” Hamlin wrote on social media.

It was needed win for 23XI. Tyler Reddick, who finished fourth in the 2024 Cup standings, had an opt-out clause in his contract that would have gone into effect Wednesday and made him a free agent if the team did not have a charter for next season.

Jordan had said he took the fight to court on behalf of all teams competing in the top motorsports series in the United States. NASCAR had argued that the two teams simply do not like the terms of the final charter agreement and asked for the lawsuit be dismissed.

Both Front Row and 23XI want to expand from two full-time cars to three, and have agreements with SHR to purchase one charter each. SHR is now Haas Factory and has a charter for one car in 2025.

Until Wednesday’s injunction, 23XI and Front Row would have been forced to compete next season as “open” teams that don’t have the same protections or financial gains that come from holding a charter.

The teams contend they must be chartered under some of their contractual agreements with current sponsors and drivers, and competing next year as open teams will cause significant losses.

Earlier this month, the suit was transferred to a different judge than the one who heard the first round of arguments and ruled against the two teams in their request for a temporary injunction to be recognized in 2025 as chartered teams as the case proceeds.

“Here, the public interest strongly favors entry of a limited preliminary injunction in favor of the Plaintiffs during the 2025 NASCAR race season, both to give fans of stock car racing the opportunity to watch (and root for and against) the full slate of teams and to allow Plaintiffs’ antitrust legal challenges to be considered,” Judge Kenneth D. Bell wrote.

Front Row is owned by businessman Bob Jenkins, while 23XI is owned by Jordan, Hamlin and longtime Jordan adviser Curtis Polk.

Jenkins had told The Associated Press in October that the two teams stood to miss out on $45 million in combined revenue if they competed as un-chartered teams. But he was willing to do so for Front Row because he believed the case against NASCAR was winnable.

NASCAR had been operating with 36 chartered teams and four open spots since the charter agreement began in 2016.

NASCAR can appeal the ruling.

“The availability of multiple sports in the United States says nothing about NASCAR’s control of a major one of them in the same way that the availability of professional basketball and football did not lead to a finding that the NCAA was not a monopolist,” the judge ruled.

Continue Reading

Sports

Reds’ Miley denies wrongdoing in Skaggs case

Published

on

By

Reds' Miley denies wrongdoing in Skaggs case

Cincinnati Reds left-hander Wade Miley said Friday that he has not been accused of any wrongdoing, one day after reports stated a deposition from a lawsuit alleged he supplied Tyler Skaggs with drugs when both players were with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The deposition is part of a motion for summary judgment filed by the Los Angeles Angels, requesting a lawsuit from the Skaggs family be dismissed.

The deposition from Ryan Hamill, Skaggs’ agent, contains testimony that he was concerned in 2013 about Skaggs’ drug use. Hamill said he and Skaggs’ family confronted Skaggs about his drug use. Skaggs was then in his second season as a teammate of Miley with the Diamondbacks.

“He came clean,” Hamill testified. “He said he had been using — I believe it was Percocets — and he said he got them through Wade Miley.”

Skaggs died on July 1, 2019, at age 27 in a Dallas-area hotel. The autopsy found fentanyl, oxycodone and alcohol in his system.

Miley briefly addressed the issue before Friday’s road game against the Detroit Tigers.

“I hate what happened to Tyler, it sucks. My thoughts are with his family and his friends,” Miley said. “But I’m not going to sit here and talk about things that someone might have said about me or whatnot. I was never a witness for any of this. I was never accused of any wrongdoing.”

Former Angels communications director Eric Kay is serving a 22-year prison sentence in Texas after being found guilty on two charges of providing drugs related on Skaggs’ overdose.

The Athletic reported that the criminal proceedings against Kay included a recorded phone conversation in which Kay told his mother that Miley was a drug source to Skaggs.

Asked if Major League Baseball has contacted him regarding the allegations, Miley said, “I’d rather just focus on the Cincinnati Reds right now and baseball and what I have to do moving forward. I’ve got to get ready for a game on Sunday.”

Miley was mentioned in Kay’s criminal case, but he was never charged with a crime.

Skaggs was traded to the Angels after the 2013 season. He went 28-38 with a 4.41 ERA in 96 career starts.

Miley, 38, is with his eighth big league team and attempting to revive his career after Tommy John surgery in 2024.

Miley has a career 109-99 mark with a 4.09 ERA in 319 games (311 starts) since making his major league debut in 2011. This is his second go-round with the Reds. He was with the team in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, going 12-10 with a 3.55 ERA in 177⅓ innings over 34 starts (32 innings).

The Skaggs family is suing the Angels, contending that high-level team officials, as well as other employees, knew Kay was a drug user and should have known he was Skaggs’ source.

Continue Reading

Sports

Belmont Stakes to remain at Saratoga in 2026

Published

on

By

Belmont Stakes to remain at Saratoga in 2026

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — The Belmont Stakes is set to be run at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York for a third consecutive year in 2026.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York Racing Association announced Friday that it will be the third and last time the Triple Crown finale is held there before returning to Belmont Park on Long Island in 2027.

“Saratoga has served our fans and stakeholders extremely well as the temporary home of the Belmont Stakes during the construction of a new Belmont Park on Long Island,” NYRA president and CEO David O’Rourke said. “Belmont Park will always be the home of the Belmont Stakes and we look forward to its return to the newly reimagined Belmont in 2027.”

It was confirmation of an expected extension of the race’s stay at Saratoga while Belmont Park undergoes nearly a half-billion dollar renovation project. It is on track to reopen in September 2026, with the Breeders’ Cup returning to New York at Belmont Park in the fall of 2027.

The Belmont will again be run at 1 1/4 miles instead of its traditional 1-1/2 mile distance that has been known as the “test of the champion.” That has been the case the past two years, as well, because of the configuration of the main dirt track.

Continue Reading

Sports

Rays get former top prospect Whitley from Astros

Published

on

By

Rays get former top prospect Whitley from Astros

The Tampa Bay Rays acquired right-hander Forrest Whitley from the Houston Astros in exchange for cash considerations Friday.

Whitley, once a top-10 prospect in baseball, was designated for assignment by the Astros on Sunday.

Houston selected him with the No. 17 pick of the 2016 MLB draft out of high school in San Antonio and gave him a $3.148 million signing bonus, but he failed to reach expectations.

Now 27, he didn’t debut in Houston until the 2024 season and made three relief appearances, giving up no earned runs in 3⅓ innings.

This season, Whitley appeared in five games for Houston, with opponents scoring 10 earned runs on nine hits and six walks in 7⅓ innings. He has no decisions with a 12.27 ERA.

In 117 minor league appearances (65 starts) he had a 17-20 record with a 4.75 ERA over 306⅔ innings. He struck out 421 batters and walked 160.

Continue Reading

Trending