Someone had to 'challenge NASCAR,' says Jordan

""Someone had to step forward and challenge the entity," the soft-spoken Jordan told the jury. "I sat in those meetings with longtime owners who were brow-beaten for so many years trying to make change. I was a new person, I wasn't afraid. I felt I could challenge NASCAR as a whole. I felt as far as the sport, it needed to be looked at from a different view.""

"His highy anticipated appearance followed dramatic testimony from Heather Gibbs, the daughter-in-law of race team owner Joe Gibbs, about the chaotic six-hour period in which teams had to sign an extension or forfeit the charters that guarantee revenue week to week throughout NASCAR's 38-race season. "The document was something in business you would never sign," said Heather Gibbs, who is also a licensed real estate agent. "It was like a gun to your head: if you don't sign, you have nothing.""

"Charters are the equivalent of the franchise model used in other sports and in NASCAR it guarantees every chartered car a spot in every race, plus a defined payout from the series. The system was created in 2016, and during the two-plus years of bitter negotiations on an extension teams begged for the renewable charters to be made permanent for revenue stability."

Michael Jordan testified that he has been a fan of NASCAR since childhood and felt compelled to sue to change a business model he views as shortchanging teams and drivers. Jordan said he sat in meetings with longtime owners who had been brow-beaten and felt unafraid as a newcomer to challenge NASCAR. Jordan co-owns the 23XI team, which joined Front Row Motorsports in the lawsuit. Heather Gibbs described a chaotic six-hour period when teams had to sign an extension or forfeit charters that guarantee weekly revenue, calling the document something no business would sign and likening it to a gun to the head. Charters, created in 2016, guarantee race spots and defined payouts, and teams had sought permanence for revenue stability; NASCAR refused and gave teams six hours.

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