The basketball legend says Nascar gives teams too little power with too much risk. His lawsuit could force historic changes to how one of America’s biggest sports is run

Michael Jordan took the stand on Friday in his landmark antitrust fight against Nascar, a case that could reshape how one of America’s biggest sports is run. Jordan’s team, 23XI Racing, and Front Row Motorsports say Nascar holds so much control over everything, from the tracks to the money to the rulebook, that teams have no real bargaining power. Nascar denies that and says the lawsuit threatens to blow up a system that has held the sport together for decades.

The case has already pulled blunt internal messages into public view and laid bare long-running frustrations between teams and Nascar leadership. Denny Hamlin, Jordan’s co-owner, has said the trial will finally “hear the truth” about how the series “really operates”.

The basketball legend says Nascar gives teams too little power with too much risk. His lawsuit could force historic changes to how one of America’s biggest sports is run

Michael Jordan took the stand on Friday in his landmark antitrust fight against Nascar, a case that could reshape how one of America’s biggest sports is run. Jordan’s team, 23XI Racing, and Front Row Motorsports say Nascar holds so much control over everything, from the tracks to the money to the rulebook, that teams have no real bargaining power. Nascar denies that and says the lawsuit threatens to blow up a system that has held the sport together for decades.

The case has already pulled blunt internal messages into public view and laid bare long-running frustrations between teams and Nascar leadership. Denny Hamlin, Jordan’s co-owner, has said the trial will finally “hear the truth” about how the series “really operates”.

The basketball legend says Nascar gives teams too little power with too much risk. His lawsuit could force historic changes to how one of America’s biggest sports is run

Michael Jordan took the stand on Friday in his landmark antitrust fight against Nascar, a case that could reshape how one of America’s biggest sports is run. Jordan’s team, 23XI Racing, and Front Row Motorsports say Nascar holds so much control over everything, from the tracks to the money to the rulebook, that teams have no real bargaining power. Nascar denies that and says the lawsuit threatens to blow up a system that has held the sport together for decades.

The case has already pulled blunt internal messages into public view and laid bare long-running frustrations between teams and Nascar leadership. Denny Hamlin, Jordan’s co-owner, has said the trial will finally “hear the truth” about how the series “really operates”.

• Follow qualifying updates, 2pm GMT start in the desert
• Sign up for The Recap newsletter | And email Philip

It really shouldn’t be like this, if you are McLaren. With clearly the better car across the season, and a better pair of drivers than Red Bull have, McLaren should already have the drivers’ title to go with the constructors’ gong they wrapped up weeks ago. Yet Max Verstappen’s stubborn rejection of second best has enabled Red Bull’s main – and in effect only – man to reach Abu Dhabi with a shot at the title, after successive blunder weekends for McLaren.

First the Las Vegas disqualification, which cost Lando Norris 18 points and Oscar Piastri 12. Then the Qatar misread on pitting during a safety car, which turned a likely win for Piastri into second place and a probable third into a lucky fourth for Norris.

• Follow qualifying updates, 2pm GMT start in the desert
• Sign up for The Recap newsletter | And email Philip

It really shouldn’t be like this, if you are McLaren. With clearly the better car across the season, and a better pair of drivers than Red Bull have, McLaren should already have the drivers’ title to go with the constructors’ gong they wrapped up weeks ago. Yet Max Verstappen’s stubborn rejection of second best has enabled Red Bull’s main – and in effect only – man to reach Abu Dhabi with a shot at the title, after successive blunder weekends for McLaren.

First the Las Vegas disqualification, which cost Lando Norris 18 points and Oscar Piastri 12. Then the Qatar misread on pitting during a safety car, which turned a likely win for Piastri into second place and a probable third into a lucky fourth for Norris.

• Follow qualifying updates, 2pm GMT start in the desert
• Sign up for The Recap newsletter | And email Philip

It really shouldn’t be like this, if you are McLaren. With clearly the better car across the season, and a better pair of drivers than Red Bull have, McLaren should already have the drivers’ title to go with the constructors’ gong they wrapped up weeks ago. Yet Max Verstappen’s stubborn rejection of second best has enabled Red Bull’s main – and in effect only – man to reach Abu Dhabi with a shot at the title, after successive blunder weekends for McLaren.

First the Las Vegas disqualification, which cost Lando Norris 18 points and Oscar Piastri 12. Then the Qatar misread on pitting during a safety car, which turned a likely win for Piastri into second place and a probable third into a lucky fourth for Norris.

Who better to sort the mush from the lush than our in-house perfectionist Felicity Cloake and our resident baker Benjamina Ebuehi?

• The best Christmas drinks, from gingerbread rum to mulled rose

According to an informal survey of my nearest and occasionally dearest, many younger Britons believe that they don’t like mince pies. It’s a claim that I always counter annoyingly with: “No, you just haven’t had a good one”, before forcing a homemade version, all crumbly, buttery pastry and plump currants, in their faces. To be fair to them, though, mince pies are baked so firmly into our festive tradition that some retailers seem to take sales for granted, and concentrate on price and shelf life rather than quality. (Which isn’t to say I won’t force down a fair few over the festive season.)

That, at least, is the only excuse for the pappy pastry and unpleasantly sour gloopy filling that has marred so many Christmases past for me, but I come into this taste test determined to see the positives, mostly because I don’t want my fellow taster, the deliciously upbeat professional baker Benjamina Ebuehi , to think I’m a grinch.

Sankeys will return in January 2026 in a city centre venue – and no phones will be allowed on the dancefloor

Queues ran down the street outside, condensation dripped off the walls inside, memories were made – and lost – and it all unfolded without a smartphone in sight. For those who remember the Manchester nightclub Sankeys in its heyday 30 years ago, the venue was a clubbing mecca.

“Sweat was dripping off the walls,” said Lee Spence, a promoter and resident DJ at the club from 2002 to 2012, who remembers once double booking Chase & Status and Carl Cox on the same night. “It was an atmosphere like nothing else I’d really seen.”

Sankeys will return in January 2026 in a city centre venue – and no phones will be allowed on the dancefloor

Queues ran down the street outside, condensation dripped off the walls inside, memories were made – and lost – and it all unfolded without a smartphone in sight. For those who remember the Manchester nightclub Sankeys in its heyday 30 years ago, the venue was a clubbing mecca.

“Sweat was dripping off the walls,” said Lee Spence, a promoter and resident DJ at the club from 2002 to 2012, who remembers once double booking Chase & Status and Carl Cox on the same night. “It was an atmosphere like nothing else I’d really seen.”