Jim France and Family’s Massive $298 Million Tax Bill Exposed in Charter Lawsuit Trial Court

NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps has revealed that Jim France and family is paying massive taxes because of their ownership of the sport.

Jim France and Family’s Massive $298 Million Tax Bill Exposed in Charter Lawsuit Trial Court

Jim France (via imago)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

The whole NASCAR community is on their toes over the antitrust lawsuit filed against NASCAR by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports. It all started with the charter deal ultimatum in 2024 that the two teams refused sign and went onto file the federal lawsuit. The trail that started on December 1st has saw some huge revelations including the financials of the sport.

On day six of the trial, the expert witness for 23XI Racing/Front Row Motorsports’ shares some big details about Jim France and NASCAR’s financials. Prominent economist Edward Snyder revealed that NASCAR is making around $250 million profit a year and from 2021 to 2024, the series owners received $397 million in shareholder distributions since 2021.

The team owner used these numbers to establish the narrative that NASCAR got more than enough to pay team extra in the charter deal as well as give the teams the $365 million compensation they are seeking. Now commissioner Steve Phelps, during his testimony, has made a major revelation about these payouts.

In his statement, he pointed out that of the $397 million, 75% was used to pay taxes. That is a massive $298 million tax bill, that means the family trust only got an actual payout of $99,250,000. Phelps in the witness stand also revealed how much he paid in wages from NASCAR. He revealed that he is getting $2.5 million salary and $2.5 million in bonuses.

The court documents revealed Jim France’s share and ownership structure of NASCAR

During the testimony of NASCAR CEO Jim France, more details about how the ownership of the sport is structured was revealed. According to the court documents, Jim France side of the family owns 54% of France Enterprises Inc. and the Lesa France Kennedy’s side owns 46% owns the remaining 46% percentage of the sport.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jim France
Jim France and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Via dailydownforce.com)

This shows that the sport over the years have seen any outside investment and the Frances owns 100%, still runs it like a family business as it had been from day one. In the same session, France also revealed how much he is getting paid for the role as the CEO. He is earning around $3.5 million annually. Any bonuses like that of Phelps weren’t revealed.

Another highlight of the statement from Jim France was his comments regarding the emotional Heather Gibbs comments earlier in the trial. Joe Gibbs Racing co-owner and the daughter in law of Joe Gibbs, revealed how France told Coach ‘If I only get 20 charters back, I get 20 charters back,’ when the veteran pleaded him to rethink the charter deal. He refused making such comments.

I’m not sure I did.

Jim France said.

His whole testimony was vague or incomplete answers like this, making it bad court session for NASCAR. He was also asked about the team’s demand for permanent charters and how he single handedly ended the demands. France gave the same response to this question from 23XI-FRM lawyer Jeffrey Kessler.

JK: They’re all telling you they need permanent charters and you said no

JF: We did not do evergreen or permanent charters, no

Jeffrey Kessler and Jim France in court.

The revelations and the comments from the witnesses are making the sport more complicated day by day. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to change in the coming days with trial getting near it end.

Also Read: France Family’s Enormous $397 Million NASCAR Payout Exposed in Court