NASCAR emerges from federal antitrust lawsuit bruised but ready for its 78th season

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In the days following the 2004 Hendrick Motorsports plane crash that killed all 10 people aboard, Bill France Jr. and Mike Helton showed up at Rick Hendrick's front door in Charlotte, North Carolina.

France, terminally ill at the time, was the chairman of NASCAR, the stock car racing series his iron-fisted father founded in 1948. Helton was the first non-family member at that time to rise to president of the series and very much in the France family inner circle.

The duo represented the very top of NASCAR, and Hendrick was their biggest team owner.

France had one question:

''You OK?'' France asked the grief-stricken Hendrick, who had lost his namesake son, brother and twin nieces in the crash.

''And I said, ‘I'll be all right,''' Hendrick recalled during an interview with The Associated Press. ''And he said, ‘Whatever you need, whatever we can do, I just came here to tell you we're here for you.' And he turned around and went home.''

A different image of NASCAR

The lawsuit took a toll on the family, which settled the case after eight days of testimony that portrayed them as money-hoarding dictators who got rich while their teams were bleeding cash.

''I felt bad for all of them," said Brian France, the grandson of founder Bill France Sr. who spent 15 years as chairman before stepping down in 2018. ''A lot of what happened is the nature of lawsuits; lawsuits are never pretty. But for 75-plus years, somebody has had to balance what is good for everybody, all of the stakeholders and certainly the fans. Our record in doing that, although not perfect, is that we've actually done an amazing job.''

The negative image of the France family presented at trial contrasts sharply with the personal experiences of many in the motorsports industry, including Michael Shank, who launched a race-winning program by mortgaging his house to start in the France-owned IMSA sports car series.

Shank told AP that Jim France personally backed his loan, helping Meyer Shank Racing off the ground.

''These are good people who care about the industry and built it on their backs, and it pissed me off to see how it was twisted," said Shank, who now fields cars in multiple series and won the Indianapolis 500 in 2021.

''I made a decision when I started to be a private business and to stay private because I didn't want the pressure of a board or stockholders telling me how to run my business," Hendrick said. "And I say that because the Frances' sacrificed. They built it, and they made a whole lot of drivers very rich.

''They built a heck of a business. They gave a lot of people opportunities to be racers and to make a living doing it. They're good people and what was portrayed — the greed — I just feel like they got railroaded.''

The lawsuit got ugly fast

At 81 and 11 years younger than his brother, the soft-spoken Jim France is the only surviving child of NASCAR's founder.

The lawsuit was based largely on the valuable charters each team needs to survive financially in NASCAR since they provide guaranteed access to races and thus a stable stream of revenue. The teams wanted them to be made permanent, not subject to cancellation by the series, but France was unwavering and negotiations went nowhere for two years.

Jordan refused and sued on behalf of the 23XI Racing team he co-owns. He was joined by Bob Jenkins, a fast-food franchiser willing to stake the future of Front Row Motorsports to fight for better terms. Mediation failed and the sides wound up in a courtroom — and the details were not flattering.

Testimony showed the France family trust was paid more than $400 million from 2021 through 2024 while teams were begging for financial relief. Evidence also showed that Steve Phelps, NASCAR's first commissioner, sent texts during negotiations in which he called Hall of Fame team owner Richard Childress a ''stupid redneck.''

Phelps really did want more for the teams, evidence showed, but ultimately had to fall in line with Jim France's wishes. Phelps left the company at the start of the year.

The France family relented on the ninth day of the trial, agreeing to a settlement that made the charters evergreen — terms will be renegotiated with each new media rights deal. The evergreen status alone overnight doubled the value of a charter from $45 million — the price of the last one sold in 2025 — to nearly $100 million. There are 36 charters for 40 spots in the field at every race.

From his spot on the sideline, Brian France ached for his family during the trial.

Her son, Ben Kennedy, is the heir apparent. He is 34 years old and working his way to the top. According to the Family Business Consulting Group, less than 5% of family companies make it to the fourth generation, but NASCAR emerged from the lawsuit intact and in position to become an outlier and give Ben Kennedy his chance.

Ben Kennedy, who works primarily in operations and competition, is the only family member who does routine interviews. Jim France and Lesa France Kennedy typically do not speak to the media.

''One of the challenges that you have with the family now is they're not self-promoters. Jim certainly is not, and Lesa's not either, as opposed to me, where I would be more out promoting broader things and different things,'' Brian France said. ''They don't really like that and don't feel the need. I don't blame them, to have to defend themselves with some of the stuff that flew around in that lawsuit that was completely inaccurate or certainly way out of context."

The fallout from the lawsuit

When 23XI and Front Row signed the new charter agreement, the case was officially dismissed last week as the series readies for the season-opening Daytona 500 on Sunday. A sport that was fractured during the charter negotiations and lawsuit now appears united again and ready to put the focus squarely on the racing.

He rides motorcycles with Jim France to this day and even so, Action Express was the first car punished this season when it failed inspection after winning the pole for the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The car started last in class and rallied to finish second; it possibly would have won the most prestigious sports car race in North America had NASCAR-employed inspectors let the car through.

''NASCAR has always had an us-vs.-them feeling, but when I went to work for them, one of the main things the family made clear to me was, ‘You have to treat everyone equally and fairly,'" Nelson said. "It's not a charity. You have to work hard to make it, and we've seen so many people make tremendous wealth, millionaires created many, many, many times over by the France family.

''And the Jim France I know has helped so many people without any desire for recognition. The way the lawsuit portrayed them is just not the people I know.''

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This story has been corrected to show that 10 people died in the 2004 Hendrick Motorsports plane crash, not 12.