Steve Phelps couldn’t continue as the public face of NASCAR. Many in the sport will view the exit of the well-liked Phelps as a necessary but unfortunate reality.
If Phelps was still Chief Marketing Officer or Chief Operating Officer, he could still do the job. But as president (a role he assumed in 2018) or as a commissioner (a role he began in 2025), he needed confidence and trust from the fan base.
He didn’t need approval from that base for everything he did. No leader is going to have that.
Steve Phelps is out as NASCAR commissioner after 10 months in the role and 20 years in the sport.
However, the head of a sport must speak to the fans by at least giving the appearance that he listens to the stakeholders and that he respects them.
That is why Phelps’ texts that became public during the recent antitrust litigation doomed him. And it’s why current NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell has some work to do.
Phelps, angry over an interview Richard Childress did on SiriusXM in 2023 where he questioned who would benefit from the potential new media rights deal, texted a colleague, saying: “Childress needs to be taken out back and flogged. He’s a stupid redneck who owes his entire fortune to nascar,”
Later in the chain, Phelps wrote: “If he’s that angry (and apparently he is) sign your charter extension and sell. He’s not smart — is a dinosaur — and a malcontent. … Total ass-clown.”
Phelps was angry, worried that Childress’ comments could hurt the tense media rights negotiations. The frustration is understandable, but the venom in those texts regarding a revered owner of the sport elicited a just-as-understandable angry reaction from fans and at least one RCR sponsor (Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris).
The ironic thing in all of this is that Phelps was the one who nearly brokered a settlement before some of the nasty texts came out. Both Phelps and O’Donnell tried to find a path in the charter negotiations that would make both the team owners and NASCAR owner Jim France happy. Instead, with France not wanting to grant evergreen charters and Phelps knowing the deal needed to get done, they tried to push through a deal that two teams didn’t sign and instead pursued a lawsuit.
Former NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps presents the Bill France NASCAR Cup Series Championship trophy to Kyle Larson last season.
Phelps was not the target in the lawsuit. He is well respected in the industry. That’s why the PGA wanted him as its commissioner less than a year ago.
He can handle problems. He guided NASCAR back to racing after just a couple of months off during the COVID pandemic.
He could handle tense negotiations. He helped get a new media rights deal for 2025-31 that increased revenues.
He had vision. Events such as the ones at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the Chicago street race helped attract new eyeballs to the sport.
He wasn’t perfect and at times didn’t appear to grasp the severity — or didn’t communicate that NASCAR grasped the severity — of competition challenges, especially when it came to the hits of the Next Gen car that caused concussions.
But few would consider the Phelps-O’Donnell regime a disaster. It’s O’Donnell’s job now to guide the sport. Ben Kennedy is seemingly a CEO-in-training, awaiting the time when his uncle Jim and his mom, Lesa France Kennedy, decide he can take over the company.
O’Donnell is expected to be the stabilizing force in all this.
He certainly had his share of fiery texts, including those critical of drivers competing in SRX, which didn’t appear to be a major competitor to NASCAR. Through his testimony during the trial, it showed O’Donnell seemed hurt that drivers and owners participated in a series in a way he thought could hurt the NASCAR brand (or others thought could hurt the NASCAR brand).
O’Donnell reiterated several times that he felt the 2016 charter agreement was designed to unite the sport and to have everyone pulling one rope, which never happened.
Steve Phelps greets drivers prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2025.
It seems a little naïve and time will tell whether O’Donnell can handle any blowback from his public texts.
In the early days of social media, he participated in hopes that engagement and discussion would help fans understand his decisions. He later abandoned it, feeling that the negativity and vitriol wasn’t productive.
Considering he came up through the ranks on the competition side (compared to Phelps on the business side), O’Donnell has already had to make more front-facing, polarizing decisions within the garage. He has a reputation of being someone who will have a conversation, albeit someone who’s not easily swayed. And that can come with its own set of frustrations.
But for the most part, O’Donnell is regarded as a leader who cares about the sport. At times, maybe too much — much like Phelps.
And that is why fans shouldn’t expect much change with the exit of Phelps. No one is coming in from the outside to rock the boat.
So what does NASCAR need most at the moment, especially after the lawsuit showed just how little trust there is internally?
It needs a leader who can comfortably articulate the vision of the sport and one who can put definitive action behind those words. That’s what O’Donnell did when the Next Gen car was introduced. He said they would rule with harsh penalties for broken rules when it came to the technical side of the car, and he followed through with that promise.
Phelps wasn’t going to be that person.
Phelps was always more comfortable in the boardroom and hatching plans for others to execute. And the texts from the lawsuit eroded any ability for the fan base to have faith in the words he spoke, no matter how heartfelt. No matter how honest.
In sports, we live by the theory of “next man up.” Who steps in when someone is knocked out of the game?
In this case, O’Donnell is that next man, in what could be viewed as a dual role as GM and coach. Kennedy is his quarterback. NASCAR has to be on offense.
We’ll see how they move the chains.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
