On the Stand, Bob Jenkins Backs Charters but Challenges NASCAR’s Control

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—The third day of the “23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports v. NASCAR” antitrust trial ended Wednesday with one of the plaintiffs, Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins, on the witness stand.

Jenkins is a former manufacturing plant manager from eastern Tennessee who assembled a portfolio of fast-food franchises that includes approximately 400 Taco Bells, 30 KFCs and 50 Long John Silver’s.

In 2011, Jenkins and a group of investors acquired Long John Silver’s in its entirety. Ownership now resides with Jenkins’ four children.

Jenkins also operates a regional trucking company and a warehousing enterprise in addition to his ownership of Front Row Motorsports.

In 19 years of full-time NASCAR racing, Front Row has never turned a profit, Jenkins said in his direct testimony under questioning from plaintiffs’ attorney Danielle Williams of Winston & Strawn LLP.

Nevertheless, the Front Row owner loves the sport. He was a charter member of the Dale Earnhardt fan club who vowed one day to own a race team.

“One of these days, I’m going own one of those things,” Jenkins testified he had said while watching a NASCAR race. “My wife said, ‘We don’t even own our own car yet,’” Jenkins added, eliciting laughter throughout Judge Kenneth D. Bell’s courtroom in the Western District of North Carolina courthouse.

Jenkins was party to the NASCAR Cup Series’ 2016 charter agreement, and he signed the renewal in 2020 that carried the agreement though 2024 even though he said he viewed the contract to be anti-competitive. But Jenkins joined 23XI in declining to sign the 2025 charter agreement and in filing the antitrust action against NASCAR, claiming $145 million in damages (to Front Row) under the 2016 agreement.

Asked why he signed the 2016 agreement, Jenkins testified he thought it was a step in the right direction.

“I was in favor of a charter system,” Jenkins said. “I think it helps owners, drivers and fans and gives us some stability.”

Under cross examination by NASCAR outside counsel Lawrence E. Buterman of Latham & Watkins LLP, Jenkins made a distinction between the charter system and the charter agreement, claiming he was damaged by exclusivity provisions governing race teams and race tracks and rising cost of parts and pieces necessary to build race cars to NASCAR’s specifications.

“The charter system is an absolute win for the teams and the sport,” Jenkins said. “The charter agreement is not.”

But Jenkins said he had never asked NASCAR for an exception to race elsewhere and had received every penny due from NASCAR under the 2016 agreement.

“This is not about bashing the France family (NASCAR principals),” Jenkins testified. “I admire their entrepreneurial spirit. They’ve done a lot of great things over the years, but this charter agreement is not one of them.”

Under cross-examination, Jenkins acknowledged that the charter agreement had provided one aspect he considered extremely important—guaranteeing chartered teams starting positions in all 36 Cup Series races and limiting the number of open teams allowed to compete for prize money.

Jenkins also confirmed he had sold and leased charters under the 2016 agreement and realized $12.5 million from those activities.

With the advent of the Gen-7 car in the Cup Series in 2022, Jenkins said his average cost for parts grew from $1.8 million to $4.7 million. He also testified that his sponsorship revenues grew from more than $3.5 million in 2016 to nearly $9 million in 2023.

Buterman, who will continue his cross-examination on Thursday, also questioned Jenkins’ commitment to making Front Row as profitable as possible, noting that Jenkins had given sponsorship free of charge to Long John Silver’s for five races (including the Daytona 500) when the team failed to sell sponsorship elsewhere.

Jenkins’ appearance on the stand followed the completion of the direct examination, cross and re-direct of NASCAR executive vice president of global strategy Scott Prime, with plaintiffs’ lead counsel Jeffrey Kessler trying to establish that NASCAR had acted in an anti-competitive manner and defense counsel Anna Rathbun eliciting testimony that NASCAR had acted prudently in planning for contingencies if teams declined to sign the 2025 charter agreement.

Thirteen of 15 Cup Series teams signed the 2025 agreement. Front Row and 23XI were the only two that did not.