Richard Childress reacts to 23XI Racing, Front Row lawsuit against NASCAR
Now that race weekend is here, NASCAR team owners like Richard Childress are able to react to the recent lawsuit. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are suing the sanctioning body over antitrust concerns.
Richard Childress has butted heads with NASCAR in the past. So, he is no stranger to controversy. But 23XI and Front Row are taking it up another notch.
Having signed the charter agreement, what does Childress think about the lawsuit? Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports picked the team owner's brain at Talladega.
"Well we've read it all, I can't comment a whole lot now because I know attorneys are handling a lot of that," Childress explained. "But I will say that the part about, we got our Docusign that evening at 6:37 is when it came in and we had to sign it by 12 o'clock or we'd lose our charters. I didn't have a choice, because we had to sign. I've got over 400 employees, OEM contracts, contracts with sponsors and I've gotta take care of my team."
It sounds like Richard Childress is confirming what the lawsuit states regarding the coercion around the charter agreement. But he isn't foolish enough to say it straight up, at least not yet.
Richard Childress isn't happy but he's not, not happySo, how does Richard Childress like this lawsuit? Is this something that makes him excited? Well, not exactly, but he isn't too upset about it, either.
"Bob, I don't know how you phrase happy on this. I would just say that I don't think we can join, I don't know, it's way too early to talk about all the legal stuff. NASCAR hadn't even came back with an answer. I'm sure they're looking at antitrust attorneys, I know they are, and we'll go from there."
Childress also believes that whatever decision is made in court or via settlement will be applied to all teams. He would still like to see the charter agreement include a favored nation clause.
"I think it will by the law but we don't have a favored nation [clause] in our charter which is not fair to me anyway because everybody should be treated equal," Richard Childress said. "How do I know that they're not going to give somebody a bigger restrictor plate or how do I know they're not going to pay somebody 20 million more dollars than me? We don't know without a favored nation."
