CHARLOTTE, NC — Retired NBA great Michael Jordan and his fellow owners of two NASCAR teams went to federal court Monday for a hearing in their antitrust fight against the car series because of what they say is an unfair business model.

23XI Racing, which is owned by Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports, owned by restaurateur Bob Jenkins, sued NASCAR and chairman Jim France in October after months of tense negotiations over NASCAR’s charter system, which is essentially a franchise model that includes revenue sharing.

The two teams say NASCAR gave all the Cup Series teams a last-minute, last-minute offer that both 23XI and Front Row refused to sign. The owners argue that the charter system limits competition by unfairly tying teams to the series, his traces and its suppliers and called the France family and NASCAR “monopolistic thugs.”

The fight comes as NASCAR heads into its championship weekend with the title-deciding race set for Sunday at Phoenix with 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick among the four drivers who can win.

U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney last week denied a request for expedited discovery by 23XI and Front Row for NASCAR to produce documents before Monday’s preliminary injunction hearing.

“While the proposed discovery requests may help plaintiffs demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits, they are not narrowly tailored,” Whitney wrote.

Jordan, Hamlin and 23XI’s Curtis Polk were joined by Jenkins and Front Row president Jerry Freeze for the hearing, which is critical to how the upcoming season will play out for the two teams.

23XI and Front Row can still compete next year, but as open teams. They argue that even though they compete under NASCAR’s open team agreement, there is a clause that would release NASCAR from any future litigation, so both teams want an injunction to continue their current process while they compete.

The teams argue that NASCAR would not be harmed by the court order because the series had planned to have 36 leased teams and allowing them to compete as leased teams while they watched the lawsuit was maintaining the status quo.

NASCAR now says it plans to run 32 charter teams and eight open cars (instead of four) in its 40-car field each week. 23XI and Front Row currently have two charters each that they have not signed and both have contracts with Stewart-Haas Racing to purchase one charter each.

Those deals haven’t panned out and NASCAR has indicated it won’t recognize the sales. NASCAR says it is only honoring the 32 lease agreements that were signed in September.

NASCAR argues that the two teams do not qualify for an injunction because they can still compete as open teams and that any damages they suffer if they prevail in this case can be covered monetarily.

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