NASCAR Antitrust Trial Day 7: Insider calls Jim France's testimony 'shockingly bad'

Jim France took the stand on day 7 of NASCAR's antitrust trial. The CEO's comments about Heather Gibbs were addressed, while it was established that he was the key impediment to teams getting permanent charters.

As per On3, the France family's financials were uncovered as part of Tuesday's (9 December's) proceedings, which revealed Jim France's annual salary of $3.5 million. His side of the family owns more than half of France Enterprises Inc., the holding company behind NASCAR, receiving $397 million between 2021 and 2024. While 75 per cent of the lumpsum went to taxes, the family's trust pulled in a total of $99,250,000.

23XI and FRM attorney, Jefferey Kessler, tried to frame France as the primary roadblock for the teams' demands. NASCAR chiefs' internal messages record him as a 'brick wall' when it came to negotiating permanent charters. The franchise-type model would've guaranteed higher long-term valuations for the teams involved.

Moreover, France himself admitted that he hasn't changed his mind about permanent charters. Nonetheless, his testimony proved too damaging for NASCAR, as The Athletic reporter Jeff Gluck noted in his X post:

"Court is done for the day. I don’t think I’m underselling it to say Jim France’s testimony was shockingly bad so far. Just not good at all for NASCAR IMO."

Jeff Gluck

@jeff_gluck

Court is done for the day. I don’t think I’m underselling it to say Jim France’s testimony was shockingly bad so far. Just not good at all for NASCAR IMO.

Jim France was also grilled about his expletive-filled rant on Heather Gibbs' plea for evergreen charters. The chairman, however, couldn't give a straight answer on the matter. NASCAR reporter Toby Christie described the interaction as follows:

"When it comes to O’Donnell’s comments about France being mad while reading Heather Gibbs’ letter aloud, France says he doesn’t recall that, but said he wasn’t saying O’Donnell was lying. However, he says he doesn’t think he’d read it out loud."

Jim France is set to conclude his testimony on Wednesday when NASCAR attorneys take over the cross-examination.

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Jim France's intentions during charter negotiations revealed by attorney

The 2025 charter deal was two years in the making, but the deadline to sign it came at short notice. The teams originally wanted permanent charters, a larger revenue-sharing model, and a say in the rules and governance affecting their order of work.

Kessler introduced NASCAR president Steve O'Donnell's summary notes when the executives first convened to discuss their approach. The attorney pointed to O'Donnell's comments about Jim France's intentions, which read(via The Alabama News Wire):

“Jim’s overarching comments — we are in a competition. We are going to win.”

Later, NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps took the stand and went over his experience with the Team Negotiation Council, led by Michael Jordan's right-hand man, Curtis Polk.

"It was one of the most challenging and longest negotiations I've ever been part of. The TNC never wavered off their four pillars. It was just the same thing, the same thing, and that was very frustrating,” he said(via aforementioned source)

NASCAR team owner Richard Childress also provided his witness testimony on Tuesday, recalling that he was financially coerced into signing the charter deal.

“I would not have signed those charters if I was financially able to do what I do. We are a blue-collar operation,” Childress said (via The Globe and Mail)

The 2025 charter deal pays out $431 million annually for the teams, a marked increase of $31 million from the previously awarded amount. Phelps argued that the $720 million initially requested by the teams would've put NASCAR out of business.