NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps has insisted that his organization is trying their best to settle their long-running legal case involving 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
The clock is ticking down to a December 1 trial, something both parties have insisted they would prefer to avoid.
23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin claimed recently that one of the two parties is on a 'suicide mission', and admitted at NASCAR's championship weekend media day that he doesn't believe a settlement is near.
Phelps read from a prepared statement at the State of the Sport event on Friday, addressing the at times bad tempered court battle.
NASCAR chief: This is not an anti-trust case
“We are trying our hardest," he said. "I am trying my hardest both as a fan as well as the commissioner of this sport that I’ve loved since I was five years old.
"While two of the teams of 15 teams may not share that view and seem set on an unfortunate court battle, I hope that we can all agree that our racing is as good as it has ever been and we care about how we serve our fans, especially as we look forward to capping off our season by celebrating new champions across all of our national series.”
He added: “Healthy race teams are critical to our sport. We’ve been true to our word. From the outset, we’ve been clear, this is not an anti-trust case.
“The 2025 charter agreement is an improvement on the 2016 framework with enhancements that reflect real progress for teams and the sport, including over $3 billion in guaranteed payments to the teams, enterprise value that is roughly $1.5 billion now to the race teams, guaranteed starting positions each week that allow teams to sell sponsorship on the best billboards in sports, the Next Gen car, and charters guaranteed for 14 years until at least 2039, plus an obligation to negotiate in good faith beyond that.”
