NASCAR's championship weekend shrouded in off-track drama from lawsuit to alleged race manipulation

NASCAR hes into its championship weekend locked into a federal antitrust lawsuit with NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan . Its officiating has been under months-long scrutiny, and this week it issued a wave of hefty fines for alleged race manipulation in final playoff qualifier.

And Truck Series championship contender Ty Majeski was fined $12,500 for skipping media obligations in rth Carolina on Tuesday so he could vote in person in his home state of Wisconsin.

Or than that? Three champions will be crowned starting Friday at Phoenix Raceway.

But those national series races have become a sideshow to off-track drama that has engulfed NASCAR last several months. four drivers who are competing in Sunday's winner-take-all finale have tuned out distractions, starting with Tyler Reddick, who me final four for first time in his career and is trying to give Jordan his first championship since Jordan became a team owner in 2021.

“, for me, and for our group, it is championship weekend and everything else is t in our focus,” Reddick said Thursday.

A federal judge in rth Carolina is due to rule Friday — same day of Truck Series championship and first practice for Cup Series — on a preliminary injunction filed by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports. two teams refused to sign NASCAR's take-it-or-leave-it offer in September on a new revenue sharing agreement and inste have sued both NASCAR and chairman Jim France.

w teams want to be recognized under charter agreements as y proceed with a lawsuit that accuses NASCAR of being “mopolistic bullies.” ruling is due same day NASCAR is slated to give its annual “State of Sport” dress.

Ryan Blaney, reigning NASCAR champion who is seeking to become first driver to go back-to-back since Jimmie Johnson won five Cup titles in a row from 2006 through 2010, said off-track issues have thing at all to do with him or Team Penske. Blaney and teammate Joey Loga give Ford and Roger Penske a 50% chance to win a third consecutive Cup title.

“For me it feels rmal because I am t a part of any of it,” Blaney said. “I am part of what I am doing, championship, so it's nice to t be a part of any of things going on outside sheer competition. For me, it's a great week, championship week and we've got a chance to do it. To me, it's rmal.”

NBC Sports does t think off-track drama will spill into cover of three national series races at Phoenix.

“I think during race, we are here to crown a champion and I can't imagine us talking about anything or than that,” said analyst Jeff Burton, who said play-by-play anuncer Leigh Diffey is unlikely to declare Reddick winner in same breath as “but re's a lawsuit!”

But re are or issues pending.

NASCAR on Tuesday levied $600,000 in fines and suspended nine members of three different Cup teams for alleged manipulation at Martinsville Speedway last weekend. NASCAR ruled Bubba Wallace of 23XI helped fellow Toyota driver Christopher Bell by allegedly faking a flat tire. That allowed Bell to hit wall to avoid Wallace and ride it for momentum to claim final spot in playoffs over William Byron.

But that move h been ruled illegal after Ross Chastain did it in 2022, and it took NASCAR officials nearly 30 minutes post-race Sunday to decide if Bell was disqualified or t. He was, and Byron of Hendrick Motorsports got final spot.

“It was excruciating,” Byron mitted Thursday. “It was so long. I was honestly numb to it. I was just preparing for t being in and thinking we h done all we needed to do to get in.”

NASCAR also ruled Tuesday that fellow Chevrolet drivers Chastain and Austin Dillon acted as blockers for Byron over final few laps to prevent anyone from taking position from him.

Trackhouse Racing and Richard Childress Racing have appealed penalties, but 23XI withdrew its appeal while denying it manipulated race for Bell. appeal decisions could come late Thursday.

And n re's just scrutiny over NASCAR officiating in general.

NASCAR for entire playoffs has flip-flopped on its damd vehicle policy, which was completely botched during playoff race at Tallega Superspeedway.

Confusion over DVP rule began early in playoffs when Blaney and Josh Berry were in first-lap incidents and although dam appeared minimal, way DVP rule h been previously officiated, both were deemed out of race and ineligible to be towed to pit stall because y were unable to continue after contact.

But at Tallega, after a 28-car crash brought out red flag, NASCAR struggled to control cleanup. Numerous damd cars were stranded with flat tires and n-playoff contenders Chase Elliott and Briscoe were towed back to ir stalls to allow for repairs.

Under previous implementation of rule, cars should have been ruled out of race because y h four flat tires and were t able to drive back to pit ro.

Drivers were incensed over change in officiating. NASCAR officials later told teams y’ll operate DVP policy rest of playoffs way y did at Tallega.

“ DVP policy could spill into live event,” NBC analyst Steve Letarte said. “So when it affects on-track clearly to us, we have to cover that, that's our job. But re's chance I'm going to pull an off-track story and connect it to an on-track performance. I think it's a slap in face to whatever teams wins championship trophy.”