NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps announced his resignation on Tuesday, with the move coming less than a month after the sport settled a federal antitrust case following the lawsuit filed by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
Phelps, who was still in his first full year as commissioner, announced in a statement that he would be stepping down at the end of January and ahead of the 2026 season. Both his testimony during the trial and text messages revealed during the process played a role in 23XI and FRM effectively getting everything they wanted in the settlement with NASCAR.
Related: Winners, Losers from 23XI Racing Lawsuit Settlement with NASCAR
The resignation also comes less than a year after he was officially named the first NASCAR commissioner. During the trial, Phelps admitted that his responsibilities as commissioner remained unchanged from when he was NASCAR president. However, he was then making $2.5 million annually.
The lawsuit also led to a discovery process, which revealed text messages sent by Phelps regarding Richard Childress in 2023. Those messages stated that the racing legend and team owner “needs to get taken out back and flogged” and called him a “stupid redneck who owes his entire fortune to NASCAR.”
Following the revelation of the text messages, Childress said he was “deeply disappointed” by the comments and was considering legal action.
According to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports, NASCAR is not expected to make any additional leadership changes at this time. As The Athletic has reported, Phelps and NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell tried to get CEO Jim France to agree to the teams’ wishes for permanent rights to charters during negotiations in 2024. However, France adamantly refused, and that resulted in the lawsuit. It wasn’t until it became evident that NASCAR was going to lose the case, facing a potentially sport-altering ruling from the judge, that France agreed to settle.
Phelps had been working in NASCAR for more than two decades, serving in a variety of roles. There is no plan to name a new commissioner, with O’Donnell and others splitting the responsibilities once held by Phelps. This move was largely expected, with the lawsuit costing NASCAR more than $100 million and the France family seemingly wanting someone ousted in the fallout of the settlement.
