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12/05 13:46 CST Michael Jordan testifies in NASCAR antitrust trial, says he had no choice but to sue Michael Jordan testifies in NASCAR antitrust trial, says he had no choice but to sue By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) --- Retired NBA great Michael Jordan took the stand at the landmark NASCAR antitrust trial and testified Friday that he has been a fan of the stock car series since he was a child but felt he had little choice but to sue to force changes in a business model he sees shortchanging teams and drivers risking their lives to keep the sport going. Jordan testified before a packed courtroom for an hour. His celebrity drew quips from the judge and even a defense attorney as he outlined why the team he co-owns, 23XI, had joined Front Row Motorsports in going to court against the top auto racing series in the United States. "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." THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below. The daughter-in-law of race team owner Joe Gibbs gave emotional testimony Friday in the federal antitrust case against NASCAR about the chaotic six-hour period in which teams had to sign an extension on a new revenue model or forfeit their charters. "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 all 38 races, plus a defined payout from the stock car 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. When NASCAR refused to make them permanent and gave the teams six hours in September 2024 to sign the 112-page extension, 23XI and Front Row Motorsports were the only two organizations out of 15 to refuse. They instead filed the antitrust suit that opened this week. 23XI is owned by retired NBA great Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row is owned by fast food franchiser Bob Jenkins. They allege the top motorsports series in the United States is a monopolistic bully. Jordan was called to the witness stand Friday afternoon with U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell wryly noting the courtroom and an overflow room nearby with a video feed were packed. Heather Gibbs became co-owner of Joe Gibbs Racing the day after her husband, Coy, unexpectedly died in his sleep the same night their son, Ty, won NASCAR's second-tier Xfinity Series championship in 2022. Coy Gibbs had moved into a leadership role with JGR following the death of his older brother, J.D., in 2019. Because Gibbs had lost both his sons and had built the team as a legacy for his family, his daughter-in-law took an active role in the organization and personally participated in negotiations for the 2025 charter extensions. She expressed her dissatisfaction with NASCAR's refusal to make the charters permanent in a letter she sent to NASCAR leadership in May 2024. When NASCAR made its final offer at 6 p.m. on a Friday night with just hours to sign, the agreement did not include permanent charters. Gibbs testified the organization was devastated. "Everything was going so fast, the legacy of Coy, the legacy of J.D., everyone at JGR was very upset," she told the jury. She said her father-in-law called NASCAR chairman Jim France pleading for a resolution. "Joe said, ?Jim, you can't do this,'" she said. "And Jim was done with the conversation." Heather Gibbs said she had to leave to take her son to a baseball game in Chapel Hill and left worried about her father-in-law, who was 84 at the time. "I left him sitting in the dark, listening to his blood sugar monitors going off," she testified. "We decided we had to sign. We can't lose everything. I did not think it was a fair deal to the teams." Joe Gibbs is both a Hall of Fame NASCAR owner and NFL Hall of Fame coach. He led the Washington football team to three Super Bowl titles and JGR has won five Cup Series championships; Heather Gibbs joked it should be six but Hamlin let one slip away in November. Hamlin drives for JGR but is co-owner of 23XI. JGR has 450 employees, charters for four Cup cars and relies solely on outside sponsorship and investors to keep the team afloat. The team will mark its 35th season next year and Gibbs told the jury that JGR needs permanent charters to protect its investment in NASCAR. "It's the most important point, a permanent place in their history books," she testified. "It is absolutely vital to the teams for us to know we have security, it can't be taken away, to know what we've invested in is ours." Heather Gibbs also testified about the letter she sent NASCAR executives earlier in 2024 following a meeting with them in which she said commissioner Steve Phelps offended her by saying JGR spent recklessly on its race team. The letter was introduced into evidence Thursday. "We've put 32 years into investing and building a dream, building careers, building families, and building NASCAR. If the financial model made sense, we would not have had to work with an outside investor," she wrote. "If our teams were financially healthy and did not solely rely on sponsorship, I would sleep better at night, not worrying about when the torch is passed on. "We have invested not only our time but our family in this sport. We have raised champions and buried their leaders, all while continuing to embrace the historical roots of NASCAR," she added. "So, with all due respect, please understand that when you tell us it doesn't make sense to partner with us after 7 years is dejecting and truly disappointing." NASCAR president Steve O'Donnell, who testified this week, was asked about a text message he sent to Ben Kennedy, nephew of Jim France that read: "Jim is now reading Heather's letter out loud and swearing every other sentence." Pressed by plaintiffs attorney Jeffrey Kessler as to what France was saying as he read the letter, O'Donnell instead said the chairman never swore. "That's what I wrote, but he was not doing that," O'Donnell testified. "We were all taken aback by the letter. I think Jim was frustrated, as we all were." ___ AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

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