AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — A federal judge on Friday denied a motion by two NASCAR teams — one of them owned by NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan — to be recognized as chartered teams as they proceed with their antitrust lawsuit against the stock car series and chairman Jim France.
The motion was signed by federal Judge Frank Whitney of the U.S. District Court of Western North Carolina in Charlotte at the exact same time NASCAR executives were giving their annual “State of the Sport” address at Phoenix Raceway.
NASCAR President Steve Phelps opened the address by noting that series officials have not publicly discussed negotiations over charters in the more than two-year process and would not start now.
“I know people are frustrated about that,” Phelps said. "We are not going to negotiate in the media about charters, ever. And we are very happy that 32 of the 36 charters were extended because those were race teams that where the deal that was put on the table for them, the primary big win for the race teams was money.
“I won't go into what the money split looks like, but what I will say is that the amount of money, it now puts the race teams, starting in '25, as the single largest beneficiary of our media deal," he added. "And we did that because the race teams were upside down financially.”
The court decision came down just hours before Cup Series cars hit the track for the first practice session of championship weekend. Tyler Reddick, who drives for Jordan-owned 23XI Racing, is one of four driver in Sunday's winner-take-all finale.
When the ruling came out and NASCAR was informed as executives sat on the stage at Phoenix Raceway, NASCAR chief operating officer Steve O’Donnell quipped: “You can't make it up, for the timing” as he and Phelps declined comment.
Jeffrey Kessler, an antitrust attorney hired by the 23XI and Front Row Motorsports in the legal fight, indicated after Monday’s hearing in Charlotte that the plaintiffs can immediately appeal the ruling.
“We are pleased with the court's decision to expedite discovery and fast track the schedule in our case against NASCAR,” Kessler said Friday. "Although we are disappointed that the preliminary injunction was denied without prejudice and as premature, which we intend to appeal, this denial has no bearing on the merits of our case. My clients will move forward to race in 2025 and fight for a more fair and equitable system in NASCAR that complies with antitrust laws.”
Both 23XI and Front Row Motorsports refused to sign a take-it-or-leave-it charter agreement presented to teams by NASCAR in September, just 48 hours before the playoffs began. The offers came after more than two years of negotiations and 13 of 15 teams signed the deal.
23XI Racing and Front Row accused NASCAR of being “monopolistic bullies” in forcing teams to into what is essentially a revenue-sharing agreement between the sanctioning body and its teams.
NASCAR has since rescinded the offers on charter extensions to 23XI and Front Row, whose current charters expire at the end of the year. The teams are free to operate as “open” teams but the lack of chartered protection denies them an equal share of revenue, a guaranteed spot in the field of 38 races and other provisions.
23XI and Front Row have asked for things to remain status quo as their antitrust case proceeds because the new charters prevent teams from suing NASCAR. Kessler asked that the teams be released from that clause for the duration of the lawsuit.
In his ruling, the judge found that Kessler failed to demonstrate that 23XI and Front Row “will face irreparable harm through several avenues.”
Kessler had argued the plaintiffs asserted they risk losing sponsors while competing as open teams because the sponsors “could abandon (them) if they ... do not qualify for all of their races.” For instance, Kessler said 23XI’s sponsorship agreements require that each sponsored car runs in every Cup Series race, so failure to qualify for a race could reduce the amount of sponsorship money it receives.
The plaintiffs also alleged they will risk the loss of their drivers if their cars are not chartered. Kessler said Reddick is permitted to terminate his contract with the team if there is no charter for his car — and he could leave as the reigning Cup champion should he win on Sunday.
Kessler also argued racing as open teams “could threaten (their) continued existence" as both teams alleged they will lose substantial amounts of revenue without charters.
The judge was not persuaded by the argument. Whitney wrote that showing the “possibility of irreparable harm” was not sufficient to win an injunction and “the required irreparable harm must be neither remote nor speculative, but actual and imminent.”
“That is, although plaintiffs allege they are on the brink of irreparable harm, the 2025 racing season is months away — the stock cars remain in the garage,” the judge added. “Plaintiffs have not alleged that their business cannot survive without a preliminary injunction. Instead, they allege that their businesses may not survive without a preliminary injunction.”
Whitney said if circumstances change, the two teams can file a new motion for a preliminary injunction. The teams were given a deadline of Dec. 2 to respond.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
FILE - Denny Hamlin is introduced before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Michigan International Speedway, Aug. 18, 2024, in Brooklyn, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
FILE - Tyler Reddick is introduced before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Michigan International Speedway, Aug. 18, 2024, in Brooklyn, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
FILE - Bob Jenkins, owner of Front Row Motorsports, and Michael Jordan, co-owner of 23XI Racing, pose before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Talladega Superspeedway, Oct. 6, 2024, in Talladega, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill, File)
Car owner Michael Jordan watches from the pits during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 18 people in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including three children and two high-ranking officers in the Hamas-run police force, according to Palestinian and hospital officials.
One strike early Thursday hit a tent in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone known as Muwasi, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering in tents during the cold and rainy winter.
Another strike killed at least eight Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip. The dead were members of local committees that help secure aid convoys, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies. An Associated Press reporter at the hospital confirmed the toll.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strikes.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health officials, who say women and children make up more than half the fatalities. The officials do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their tally.
The war was sparked by Hamas-led militants' Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel. They killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 that day. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Here's the latest:
JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military has claimed responsibility for a nighttime raid in Syria last September in which it says dozens of commandos destroyed a top-secret Iranian-led missile factory.
Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said Thursday that Iran, working with its Syrian and the Hezbollah allies, planned to build hundreds of precision guided missiles per year at the factory that could be transferred to Lebanon. He said the facility was located in western Syria around the town of Masyaf near the Lebanese border.
He said Israel had been monitoring the underground facility for several years, but decided to strike at a time when Israel was at war with Hezbollah and the factory was becoming operational.
“This facility posed a clear threat to the state of Israel and this is why we had to take action,” he said.
Shoshani said over 100 special force soldiers took part in the Sept. 8 raid, backed by dozens of aircraft. Calling it one of Israel’s most complex operations in years, he said soldiers arrived by helicopter and entered the facility, which he said was dug deep into the side of a mountain.
In bodycam footage released by the Israeli military, special forces are seen moving through wide underground hallways and seizing documents, before a large explosion destroys the site. The video, which could not be independently verified, also showed images of what the army said was missile-manufacturing equipment.
At the time, Syrian state media reported four deaths from a series of Israeli airstrikes in the area. Shoshani said there were no Israeli casualties, and that Israel also damaged another missile-production facility in Lebanon during the war.
Israel and Hezbollah reached a cease-fire in late November, halting nearly 14 months of fighting.
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was released from the hospital Thursday after recovering from prostate surgery Sunday.
Doctors at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital said Netanyahu was recuperating satisfactorily, although he still has a period of recovery ahead. Medical follow-ups will continue as usual, according to a hospital statement.
Despite doctor’s orders to remain hospitalized, the 75-year-old leader had briefly left the facility to participate in a vote in Israel’s parliament on Tuesday.
KYIV, Ukraine – Ukraine’s president says his country is poised to reestablish diplomatic ties with Syria after the fall of President Bashar Assad and sharply increase agricultural exports to Lebanon despite being engaged in an almost three-year war with Russia.
The developments came after a recent visit to those countries by Ukraine’s top diplomat and its government minister for farming, according to a statement from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday. Ukraine is aiming to build up its security and trade relations in the Middle East, he said.
Ukraine and Syria are assessing cooperation within international organizations, and Syria could this year become a “reliable partner” for Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian officials met with Syria’s new de facto authorities led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The insurgents had ousted Assad, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, in early December.
Ukrainian agricultural exports to Lebanon are around $400 million a year but Zelenskyy said he hopes to at least double that.
Ukraine is a leading world producer of wheat, corn, barley, sunflower oil and other food products.
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it targeted a senior member of Hamas’ internal security apparatus in a strike in the Gaza Strip that Palestinian officials say killed nine other people, including three children.
The strike early Thursday hit a tent in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone known as Muwasi, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering in tents during the cold and rainy winter.
The military said Hossam Shahwan, a senior officer in the Hamas-run police force in Gaza, was involved in gathering intelligence used by Hamas’ armed wing in attacks on Israeli forces.
Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Salah, another senior police official, was also killed in the strike.
The military says Hamas militants hide among civilians and blames the group for their deaths in the nearly 15-month war, which was ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel.
The Hamas-run government had a police force numbering in the tens of thousands that maintained a high degree of public security before the war while also violently suppressing dissent.
The police have largely vanished from the streets in many areas after being targeted by Israel, contributing to the breakdown of law and order that has hindered the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid.
DAMASCUS, Syria — The forces together with armed vehicles were deployed in the city of Homs Thursday to look for the militants affiliated with ousted President Bashar Assad, state media reported.
SANA, citing a military official, said that the new de facto authorities led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham had set up centers in Syria’s third-largest city for former soldiers and militants to hand over their weapons, similar to other parts of Syria.
In early December, a lightning insurgency took out the decades-long rule of Assad in less than two weeks. HTS has since run much of war-torn Syria under the authority of its leader Ahmad al-Sharaa.
Officials who were part of Assad's notorious web of intelligence and security apparatus have been arrested over the past few weeks.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: An Israeli strike has killed at least eight Palestinian men in the central Gaza Strip.
The dead were members of local committees that help secure aid convoys, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies. An Associated Press reporter at the hospital confirmed the toll.
Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza killed at least 10 people, including three children and two senior officers in the Hamas-run police.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strikes.
Israel has repeatedly targeted the police, contributing to a breakdown of law and order in the territory that has made it difficult for humanitarian groups to deliver aid. Israel accuses Hamas of hijacking aid for its own purposes.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Al Jazeera has condemned the Palestinian Authority’s decision to bar it from operating in the occupied West Bank, saying the decision was “in line” with similar actions taken by Israel.
In a statement Thursday, the Qatar-based broadcaster accused the Western-backed authority of seeking to “hide the truth about events in the occupied territories, especially what is happening in Jenin and its camps.”
The Palestinian Authority, which cooperates with Israel on security matters, launched a rare crackdown on anti-Israel militants in the urban Jenin refugee camp last month. The authority has international support but is unpopular among many Palestinians, with critics portraying it as a subcontractor of the Israeli occupation.
The Palestinian Authority announced the suspension of Al Jazeera’s activities on Wednesday, accusing it of incitement and interfering in Palestinian internal affairs. The Palestinian Authority exercises limited autonomy in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israel banned Al Jazeera last year, accusing it of being a mouthpiece of Hamas. Israeli strikes have killed or wounded several Al Jazeera reporters in Gaza, and Israel has accused some of them of being militants. Israeli forces raided Al Jazeera’s West Bank headquarters last year, but the broadcaster has continued to operate in the territory.
Al Jazeera denies the allegations and accuses Israel of trying to silence its coverage. Its 24-hour reporting from Gaza has focused on the deaths of Palestinian civilians. It has also broadcast Hamas and other militant videos in their entirety, showing attacks on Israeli forces and hostages speaking under duress.
Palestinian children play next to a building destroyed by Israeli army strikes in the central Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Israeli soldiers stand in a bullet-ridden house during a tour for army personnel to observe the damage caused by the Oct. 7 Hamas onslaught at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, near the Israeli-Gaza border, in Israel, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
An Israeli soldier jumps off an armoured vehicle at a staging area near the Gaza border in southern Israel, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov))
Palestinians prepare the body for the funeral of a man killed during an Israeli army strike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. The strike killed at least eight men members of local committees that help secure aid convoys, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A man reacts in grief as the body of 8-year-old Adam Farajallah is brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital following an airstrike on a house in the Bureij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A man mourns over the body of a Palestinian man killed during an Israeli army strike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. The strike killed at least eight men members of local committees that help secure aid convoys, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinian girls collect donated food at a food distribution center in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
An Israeli soldier covers his ears as an artillery gunner fires into the Gaza Strip from a position in southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025.(AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A destroyed part of Gaza City as seen from southern Israel, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov))
Palestinians inspect the site of an earlier Israeli army strike in the Muwasi area, in Khan Younis, central Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. According to Palestinian medical officials, the airstrike killed at least 10 people, including three children and two senior police officers, in an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
