“Hallelujah”: NASCAR Fans React As Commissioner Steve Phelps Resigns Following 23XI Lawsuit Fallout

Saw that one coming…

NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps announced today that he would be resigning from his job, in a move that many NASCAR fans have been calling for in the wake of embarrassing text messages that surfaced over the course of the recent antitrust lawsuit and trial.

A settlement was reached last month in the bombshell lawsuit against NASCAR that was filed last year by two of its race teams, 23XI Racing (which is owned by NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan) and Front Row Motorsports. But unfortunately for NASCAR, the settlement didn’t come until the eighth day of the trial, after much of the damage had already been done to its reputation and trust from fans.

Things got particularly nasty when messages were released showing Phelps, who at the time was President of NASCAR, fuming over Richard Childress in August of 2023, while NASCAR was in the midst of negotiating a new TV deal and charter agreement with team owners.

Childress had given an interview on SiriusXM about the charter negotiations, and wasn’t happy with the way things were going. After listening to the interview, Phelps said Childress, who owns the #3 car for Austin Dillon and the #8 car of Kyle Busch in the NASCAR Cup Series, “needs to be taken out back and flogged” while calling him a “stupid redneck who owes his entire fortune” to NASCAR.

In another string of messages, Phelps and NASCAR VP Brian Herbst call Childress an “idiot” for comments he made to the media, apparently regarding the proposed charter extension agreement. According to Phelps:

“He’s not smart – is a dinosaur – and a malcontent. He’s worth a couple hundred million dollars – every dollar associated with NASCAR in some way. Total a–clown.”

Obviously it was a terrible look for the sport, especially for executives who haven’t exactly endeared themselves to race fans recently with some of the changes they’ve made to the racing.

Any goodwill that NASCAR had with fans was pretty much used up by executives’ seeming refusal to do anything to fix the terrible short track racing we’ve seen in the past few years from the Next Gen Car, as well as the frustration from fans over the playoff points format. So if they were hoping that fans would be understanding about the embarrassing text messages…well, that was a serious miscalculation.

Since the text messages were unsealed, calls for Phelps to be removed as NASCAR Commissioner have only grown louder as it became increasingly clear that major changes are needed in the executive suite.

And today, Phelps made it official that he would be leaving the sport.

In a statement, Phelps said he made the “personal decision” to step down as Commissioner:

“As a lifelong race fan, it gives me immense pride to have served as NASCAR’s first Commissioner and to lead our great sport through so many incredible challenges, opportunities and firsts over my 20 years. Our sport is built on the passion of our fans, the dedication of our teams and partners, and the commitment of our wonderful employees.

It has been an honor to help synthesize the enthusiasm of long-standing NASCAR stakeholders with that of new entrants to our ecosystem, such as media partners, auto manufacturers, track operators, and incredible racing talent. As I embark on new pursuits in sports and other industries, I want to thank the many colleagues, friends, and especially the fans that have played such an important and motivational role in my career. Words cannot fully convey the deep appreciation I have for this life-changing experience, for the trust of the France family, and for having a place in NASCAR’s amazing history.”

Phelps first joined NASCAR in 2005 as the Vice President of Corporate Marketing after previously serving the same role with the NFL. He became President of NASCAR in 2018, and in his time has overseen major changes to the sport like the Next Gen car, the merger of NASCAR and ISC (which owns the majority of the tracks on NASCAR’s schedule), and the negotiation of a $7.7 billion media rights deal.

But the sport has increasingly felt out of touch with fans in recent years, with many NASCAR loyalists expressing frustration with decisions like lowering horsepower with the Next Gen car, moving races away from historic tracks and into major media markets like Los Angeles and Chicago, as well as international expansion with races in Mexico City. All this has made fans feel like NASCAR was abandoning their fiercely loyal base to try to chase new fans, and pretty much made it impossible for leadership to remain intact following the fallout from the lawsuit.

And NASCAR fans were quick to express their opinions on the subject after Phelps announced his resignation:

It doesn’t sound like NASCAR will be filling the role left open by Phelps, and will instead spread his responsibilities around among their existing executives. It also sounds like Steve O’Donnell, the embattled President of NASCAR, will be remaining in his role, though I guess we’ll still have to wait and see.

Regardless, it’s clear that big changes are coming to the sport, not only from the settlement of the lawsuit but from the change in leadership.The post “Hallelujah”: NASCAR Fans React As Commissioner Steve Phelps Resigns Following 23XI Lawsuit Fallout first appeared on Whiskey Riff.