NASCAR is used to fights on the track, but lately the real drama is happening way off it. The charter lawsuit between 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports, and the sanctioning body is already messy enough, but now some old private text messages have turned the heat up even more.

Two of the sport’s biggest names, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart, are right in the middle of it, not because they’re suing, but because NASCAR’s top brass was terrified of what they were building outside the Cup bubble.

Back in the summer of 2022 and 2023, while charter talks were getting ugly, NASCAR executives were watching two side projects grow fast. Dale Jr. was pouring everything into the CARS Tour, turning it into the best late-model series around and bringing tracks like North Wilkesboro back to life.

At the same time, Tony Stewart and Ray Evernham had launched SRX, a Thursday night summer series full of legends, dirt stars, and Cup drivers having fun on short tracks with big broadcasts. Both looked like harmless passion projects, but inside NASCAR’s headquarters, they were setting off alarm bells.

Just recently, the lawsuit drama threw the private chats of NASCAR leadership out in the open. The leaked messages that came out with the lawsuit paperwork show just how worried leadership really was. Steve Phelps and Steve O’Donnell did not hold back. They called SRX a “trash series,” said it needed a “knife” put in it, and talked about legal moves to shut it down.

When they found out active Cup owners and drivers were jumping in, the texts got even sharper. They were mad that SRX sometimes outrated Xfinity and Trucks, and scared it could hurt their own TV deals.

It was not just a business worry. The messages had a personal edge, too. Steve O’Donnell wrote about putting on fake smiles in public while “we scheme and we win” behind the scenes. They even talked about grabbing North Wilkesboro and Bowman Gray before Dale Jr. or anyone else could make them the center of rival shows. In their eyes, two of the sport’s most beloved figures were not just having fun; they were threatening the whole empire.

Fast forward, and SRX is gone after three seasons, its stuff sold off. The CARS Tour keeps growing strong under Dale Jr. and others. And now every fan can read exactly how panicked NASCAR’s leadership was about two guys doing “cool kid shit” while the big series struggled to keep eyes on the screen.

It has left a lot of people shaking their heads, wondering why the people in charge spent so much energy fighting their own legends instead of working with them. Fans on X are furious about these discoveries and are already shunning NASCAR.

Fans are in disbelief

“They were legitimately mad that SRX was doing cool kid shit.”

That is not just fan hyperbole. The leaked texts reveal raw, derisive language from top NASCAR figures about SRX and about active Cup team involvement in the series. Executives described SRX as a “trash series” in some exchanges and talked about taking legal action, language that reads more like personal anger than measured corporate strategy.

SRX’s mix of big names, short formats, and TV spectacle clearly hit a nerve because it was doing the very thing that draws modern attention: entertaining, headline-friendly show races.

“NASCAR being intimidated by SRX is hilarious.”

Funny as it sounds to fans, the court filings back it up: leadership worried SRX could undercut broadcast value and siphon eyes and energy away from NASCAR’s property.

Those concerns were practical, not just ego; TV partners and rights valuation are huge for NASCAR’s revenue model, and executives feared a rival show featuring big drivers could complicate negotiations. That mix of practical fear and public skepticism is why many supporters are laughing at the idea of NASCAR being rattled.

“SRX outrated Xfinity or Trucks.”

Fans point to the ratings spikes SRX occasionally drew compared to lower-tier national series as proof that the product was resonating. While exact week-to-week comparisons vary, SRX’s prime time, short-format entertainment package often performed strongly for cable viewers, and executives worried about how that would reflect on NASCAR’s secondary series, which typically rely on different windows and distribution.

“They are really insecure about Dale Jr and Tony Stewart doing actual cool shit while taking in crazy viewership, but they, with 10X the resources, cannot match up with them, embarrassing to say the least.”

There is a kernel of truth here. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Stewart brought credibility, charisma, and smart packaging to events that connected directly with fans, North Wilkesboro throwbacks, superstar lineups, and TV-friendly formats.

The CARS Tour’s growth and SRX’s initial popularity showed that smaller, nimble products can outshine bigger incumbents on feel and fan buzz. The leaked messages show leadership fear about that dynamic, and the later business moves, including SRX assets being sold and ongoing legal and financial reshuffles, underline how disruptive these outsider projects became to the old order.

Fans see the mismatch and call it embarrassing, but the documents show why executives were worried enough to discuss legal and strategic countermeasures.