CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — In the NASCAR-themed “Days of Thunder” movie, there is a scene where the Big John character modeled after series founder Bill France Sr.
threatens a pair of feuding drivers. Tired of the on-track antics between drivers loosely based on Dale Earnhardt and a combination of Geoff Bodine and Tim Richmond, Big John warns of the consequences to come if they don't stop wrecking each other. “You trade paint one more time, you so much as touch, I’m gonna black flag the two of you,” Big John says in the movie, “and take apart your race cars for 300 laps.
Then, if you pass inspection and you put your cars back together, I might let you back into the race.” There was some truth in that scene in that NASCAR, its inspectors, race control officials and executives are in charge and can interpret the rules as they see fit. It has played out over and over since NASCAR was formed by the France family in 1948 — a car has trouble passing inspection for some sort of infraction or the same team finds that it has been “randomly selected” for a thorough teardown week after week.
Should 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports be worried? After all, the two teams just filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR alleging “anti-competitive terms” in the charter agreement reached last month. The lawsuit is going to be a topic for the rest of the season, which is now well into the playoffs and includes six more races. 23XI is owned by retired NBA great Mi.
