This is getting ugly.

We’re just over a week away from the start of the trial in the antitrust lawsuit between 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR. It seemed like the two sides were close to a settlement at one point, but now that seems unlikely before trial so both sides are gearing up to make their arguments in the courtroom.

Ahead of the trial, teams are required to submit any evidence they intend to use in their case, which means we’re getting our first look at what’s been exchanged behind the scenes already. And some text messages that were released last night REALLY don’t look good for NASCAR.

In one exchange from 2023, NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps and President Steve O’Donnell fumed that Cup Series driver and 23XI Racing team owner Denny Hamlin would be competing in a race in the SRX Series, a short track racing series that ran midweek races from 2021-2023.

O’Donnell said that NASCAR needs their legal department to “take a shot at this,” while Phelps called the NASCAR drivers participating in the series “just plain stupid” and said that NASCAR needed to “put a knife in this trash series.”

Some interesting texts revealed tonight … the text reaction of Phelps and O’Donnell when they found out Denny Hamlin was running SRX … (tonight is the deadline for redacted exhibits to be filed for exhibits used in the summary judgment rulings). pic.twitter.com/EE6WURbibY

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) November 22, 2025

In yet another exchange about the SRX Series, Phelps and O’Donnell expressed their fear that Dale Earnhardt Jr. could eventually run a race in the series, while pointing out that the SRX Series was drawing higher television ratings than both the Xfinity and Truck Series.

And more NASCAR executive (one of the people in the chain is not identified so don’t know who that is) reaction to SRX when they found out Justin Marx was doing it in June 2022 … and how that could have sparked more interest in doing North Wilkesboro: https://t.co/iR2qaoyPEU pic.twitter.com/kISZ8iggEo

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) November 22, 2025

I mean, trying to take out a competing stock car racing series seems like a monopoly, no?

But the most explosive messages unsealed so far show Steve Phelps fuming over NASCAR team owner Richard Childress in August of 2023, while NASCAR was in the midst of negotiating a new TV deal and charter agreement with team owners. Phelps said Childress, who owns Richard Childress Racing, “needs to be taken out back and flogged” while calling him a “stupid redneck who owes his entire fortune” to NASCAR.

In another string of messages, Phelps and NASCAR VP Brian Herbst call Childress an “idiot” for comments he made to the media, apparently regarding the proposed charter extension agreement. According to Phelps:

“He’s not smart – is a dinosaur – and a malcontent. He’s worth a couple hundred million dollars – every dollar associated with NASCAR in some way. Total a–clown.”

In an exhibit of texts that the jury won’t get to see because would be used more as inflammatory are some texts showing Steve Phelps frustration over things Richard Childress said in August 2023. Texts are to VP Brian Herbst during/following a meeting (believe with some teams): pic.twitter.com/wWx6mAVuxY

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) November 22, 2025

Obviously it’s not a great look for NASCAR executives to be trashing their team owners, or anyone involved in their sport, as “stupid rednecks” when the sport has been trying for years to shake the perception that it’s just “stupid rednecks.” And Childress ultimately ended up signing the charter agreement (though he wasn’t happy about it), so these comments no doubt aren’t going to sit well with the outspoken owner after he went along with their proposal.

It also overlooks the contributions Childress made to help NASCAR get to where they are. Long before Phelps was involved in the sport, Richard Childress racing entered NASCAR first as a driver and then starting in 1981, as the team owner of the #3 car for the legendary Dale Earnhardt.

The sport owes much of their growth to the dominance and popularity of Earnhardt, and thus to Richard Childress, so to dismiss him as a “stupid redneck” seems like officials are biting the hand that helped get them to where they are in the first place.

Neither NASCAR nor Childress have commented on the newly-unsealed text messages, but you’ve gotta wonder if NASCAR is wishing they had settled the case before these came out.

The Lawsuit Between The Teams & NASCAR

NASCAR has been locked in a heated legal battle after a lawsuit was filed against the sport by two of its race teams, Front Row Motorsports and 23XI Racing, the team owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan and current Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin.

The lawsuit came as a result of tense negotiations between NASCAR and team owners over the sport’s charter agreement for 2025 and beyond. (A charter gives a team a guaranteed spot in each race, as well as a larger portion of the revenue). Without charters, teams can still compete as “open” teams, but they are not guaranteed a spot in the race and must race their way in during qualifying. Open teams also get a smaller share of the revenue from each race.

The previous charter agreement expired at the end of 2024, and the team owners pushed throughout the year for an agreement that would provide a greater share of television revenue to the race teams, among other changes that they were seeking to help improve their own financial stability.

Of course NASCAR pushed back on many of the requests by teams, giving them an increased share of the TV revenue but not meeting the number that some team owners (like Hamlin) claim is necessary for teams to simply break even.

And the new agreement presented by NASCAR also reportedly included a non-disparagement clause, preventing the teams from publicly criticizing the sanctioning body, as well as a provision that allowed NASCAR itself to own charters and run their own teams.

There was also a clause in the charter agreement that would prohibit teams from suing NASCAR for antitrust violations.

Eventually NASCAR presented team owners with what they said was their best and final deal, and gave them an ultimatum: Sign it before the 2024 playoffs start, or we’ll take your charters.

Well 13 of 15 NASCAR teams decided to just bite the bullet and sign the agreement, although many of them didn’t exactly sound thrilled with the deal they got. But the two that refused to accept NASCAR’s proposal, 23XI and FRM, decided to instead file a lawsuit against the sanctioning body.

The lawsuit accuses NASCAR and CEO Jim France of “unlawful monopolization of premier stock car racing in order to enrich themselves at the expense of the premier stock car racing teams.”

The teams cite NASCAR’s ownership of many of the tracks at which it races, as well as requirements that teams buy their parts from suppliers chosen by NASCAR, as proof that the sanctioning body has a monopoly on the sport of stock car racing.

NASCAR responded by filing a countersuit against the teams, accusing them and 23XI co-owner Curtis Polk of conspiring to illegally work together against NASCAR in charter negotiations.

Things have gotten messy in the lawsuit, with the judge basically warning both sides that they should settle the case rather than going to trial because it was a suicide mission for both sides which could permanently destroy both the teams and the sport. And last week, the two sides came together in settlement negotiations but were unable to reach an agreement that would prevent a trial.

After the settlement talks fell through, Judge Kenneth Bell held a hearing on competing motions for summary judgement filed by both sides. (Summary judgement basically means the parties were asking the court to rule on key issues that they claim are settled and that no reasonable jury could rule against them on).

But Bell dismissed NASCAR’s countersuit, and handed the teams a win by ruling that the “relevant market” for the suit is “premier stock car racing.” NASCAR had argued that the relevant market should be broader, which would make it easier for them to claim that they weren’t a monopoly.

The case is scheduled for trial to start on December 10, 2025.