For months now, the tension between NASCAR’s power structure and several longtime team owners has felt heavier than usual. The sport has already been navigating a messy stretch with its charter negotiations, an antitrust lawsuit hanging overhead, and owners publicly voicing frustrations about how decisions are being made behind closed doors.

Team owners, especially the ones who’ve been around for decades, have carried the sport through eras of uncertainty before. They’ve invested their money, reputations, and entire lives into NASCAR, often long before the big TV deals and billion-dollar valuations ever existed. So when they sense disrespect or a breakdown in trust, it hits differently. It lingers.

And this season, that lingering tension has been growing into something much more serious with the leaked chats of NASCAR Comissioner, Steve Phelps, showing his disrespect towards Richard Childress.

Childress will see NASACAR at Court

Richard Childress and his longtime team, Richard Childress Racing (RCR), are in a pretty tense spot right now, and it’s not because of tire strategy or crashes on track. Leaked text messages from 2023 between high-ranking NASCAR executives have revealed some shocking insults aimed directly at Childress.

Now, RCR says it’s considering a lawsuit over them. The remarks, shared during discovery in the ongoing antitrust case involving 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, have ignited outrage across the sport.

According to court-filed messages, NASCAR’s then-Commissioner Steve Phelps and Chief Media & Revenue Officer Brian Herbst made deeply personal and derogatory comments about Childress, calling him an “idiot,” a “dinosaur,” and even demanding that “Childress needs to be taken out back and flogged” while labeling him a “stupid redneck who owes his entire fortune to NASCAR.”

These weren’t off-hand jokes; they surfaced during serious negotiations over charter extensions when the future of NASCAR’s business model was on the line.

RCR issued a strongly worded statement after the texts went public. They said they are “deeply disappointed” by the “insensitive and defamatory statements” made about Richard Childress.

They argue the messages reflect how some executives “have historically viewed and treated team owners like Mr. Childress, who have devoted their lives to strengthening the sport.”

The team also made it clear they’re weighing legal action, saying in their release that they “will issue no further statements … as legal action is being contemplated and discussed with counsel.”

The backlash isn’t just coming from RCR. Former NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield voiced his outrage, too, calling out Phelps for “dissing” Childress, a man he described as someone who “did more for NASCAR accidentally than they’ve done on purpose.”

It is also highlighted how the texts illustrate deeper tensions inside NASCAR, revealing “a governing body that’s getting more and more frustrated” with outspoken owners. All of this is unfolding against the backdrop of the very lawsuit where these texts emerged.

The antitrust case, brought by 23XI Racing and Front Row, centers on NASCAR’s charter system, broadcast deals, and how much power the sanctioning body holds over teams. For Childress, the insults are more than just hurtful; they could become a major legal battleground.