As the NASCAR vs 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports lawsuit continued on Friday, one Cup Series team owner made a damning claim.

Although they are not one of the two teams suing NASCAR, Joe Gibbs Racing co-owner Heather Gibbs testified on day five of the trial in Charlotte, claiming that NASCAR's self-imposed deadline to sign up to their charter agreement last year was like having a gun put to your head.

Amid ongoing negotiations over the agreement, NASCAR issued a self-imposed deadline to all Cup Series teams last September to either sign up or lose their charters.

In the end, only 23XI and FRM refused to sign up ahead of the deadline, but Gibbs believes that they had good reason, detailing the dilemma Joe Gibbs Racing were wrestling with at the time.

"The document was something in business you would never sign," Gibbs told the jury in a damning statement, via ESPN.

Commenting on NASCAR's approach to the deadline, Gibbs continued: "It was like a gun to your head: If you don't sign, you have nothing."

Joe Gibbs pleaded with NASCAR

Heather Gibbs also revealed that the legendary Joe Gibbs had pleaded with NASCAR before the deadline, but to no avail.

"Everything was going so fast, the legacy of Coy, the legacy of J.D., everyone at JGR was very upset," Heather continued.

“Don’t do this to us,” Heather Gibbs said of what Joe Gibbs told NASCAR’s Jim France. She said France replied: “If I wake up and I have 20 charters, I have 20. If I have 30, I have 30.”

Joe Gibbs Racing ended up signing the agreement, but they were not happy about doing so.

"I left him [Joe Gibbs] sitting in the dark, listening to his blood sugar monitors going off," Gibbs revealed, stating that she was concerned to leave him in that state.

"We decided we had to sign. We can't lose everything. I did not think it was a fair deal to the teams."

Why did 23XI not sign up to charter agreement?

Michael Jordan was also testifying on Friday, and he told the jury exactly why he, as 23XI co-owner, refused to sign up to the charter agreement.

"One, I didn't think it was economically viable. Two, it said you could not sue NASCAR; that was an antitrust violation, I felt. Three, they gave us an ultimatum I didn't think was fair to 23XI," Jordan said.

The 23XI owner added: "I wanted a partnership, and permanent charters wasn't even a consideration.

"The pillars that the teams wanted, no one on the NASCAR side even negotiated or compromised."