- - NASCAR Commissioner Resigns After ‘Insensitive’ Texts Revealed in Trial Against Michael Jordan's Racing Team

Sean NeumannJanuary 8, 2026 at 3:27 AM

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Steve Phelps -

NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps announced he is resigning at the end of the month

Phelps' announcement comes amid fallout from the release of inflammatory text messages he sent about team owners

Phelps called it a "personal decision" to step away from the racing organization

Just weeks after inflammatory text messages sent by NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps were revealed in court documents, the racing executive announced that he is resigning.

NASCAR announced the news Tuesday, Jan. 6, writing in a press release that Phelps, 63, “has made the personal decision to step away from the company and his role as commissioner” of the organization.

“Phelps, who joined NASCAR in 2005, will transition out of the company by the end of the month,” NASCAR announced.

The news comes less than a month after Phelps found himself in the midst of controversy surrounding the release of text messages he had sent about other NASCAR personalities, including former driver and team owner Richard Childress. The messages were unsealed as part of the lawsuit between Michael Jordan's 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR, which the sides settled in early December.

In one text, Phelps allegedly wrote to another NASCAR executive that he believed Childress, 80, was a “stupid redneck who owes his entire fortune to NASCAR” and in another wrote that Childress should be “taken out back and flogged."

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Steve Phelps

The revelation of the inflammatory messages led to Childress threatening to take legal action against the NASCAR commissioner, calling his words “insensitive.”"These comments reflect the way certain NASCAR executives have historically viewed and treated many team owners like Mr. Childress, who have devoted their lives to strengthening the sport for its fans, its sponsors, and all who compete in it,” a statement from Richard Childress Racing said at the time, PEOPLE previously reported.

The statement said Childress was “deeply disappointed by the insensitive and defamatory statements” Phelps made about him.

The controversy stemmed from an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR filed by Jordan’s 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, which argued the racing organization wasn’t properly sharing its revenue with the teams that compete in the sport’s top company.

The lawsuit alleged NASCAR and France, 79, used “anticompetitive and exclusionary practices” to “enrich themselves at the expense of the premier stock car racing teams."

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Steve Phelps

Amid a years-long media rights battle, Childress had become one of NASCAR’s most outspoken critics. Phelps’ text messages about Childress were reportedly sent in 2023 after the team owner had appeared on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and spoke out against the company’s media deal, according to The New York Times.

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