As the Nov. 22, 2025, deadline looms for NASCAR and 23XI/FRM to submit redacted exhibits in support of summary judgment, the sport braces for a legal showdown that has been decades in the making. However, before either side reaches that pivotal stage, both must disclose every document they intend to use at trial, a process already shaking the industry to its core.

Now, with the Dec. 1 trial date fast approaching, a fresh scandal has rocked the community. Newly leaked messages have put NASCAR’s top brass on the defensive. The revelations were so startling that even longtime NASCAR voice and alleged “loyalist” Wallace felt compelled to speak out, suggesting the sanctioning body indeed was threatened by rival SRX series.

‘Unbelievable’ — Vocal NASCAR Loyalist Kenny Wallace Turns On the Organization Amid New Shake Up

Among the countless documents, texts, and emails uncovered were the striking exchange in which NASCAR commissioner, then serving as president, Steve Phelps, told Steve O’Donnell, at the time the organization’s COO and now its president, that they needed to “put a knife” into “this trash series,” referring to SRX.

This latest revelation, uncovered by Bob Pockrass on Friday, has sent shockwaves through the NASCAR world and may prove to be a defining moment in the ongoing antitrust battle.

The controversy traces back to Denny Hamlin’s decision to compete in the SRX season opener in the summer of 2023. Reacting to Pockrass’ post, former Busch Series racer Wallace didn’t hide his disbelief, writing: “This whole deal is unbelievable. @NASCAR felt threatened by SRX getting too big.”

“Oh great, another owner racing in SRX,” Phelps reacted in response to Hamlin’s SRX signing. Meanwhile, O’Donnell wrote, “This is NASCAR. Pure and simple. Enough. We need legal to take a shot at this,” Phelps escalated the tone even further, replying with a sharp rebuke – “These guys are plain stupid. Need to put a knife in this trash Series.”

The leaked messages went far beyond potshots at SRX. Some comments were aimed squarely at the three-time champion, Stewart himself. In one striking line, O’Donnell wrote,

“Actually, you have one of the voices of FOX in Waltrip, an owner of Cup cars in Stewart, our most popular driver for years and one of our champs fathers etc. This is exhibit ‘a’ that nobody gives a shit about what got them their careers. Pay em some money and they are all in.”

These June 29, 2022, texts, now unsealed, take on even greater significance when viewed against the tensions that began to simmer at the time, from the early stages of the charter-negotiation standoff to the looming acquisition of the CARS Tour by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Justin Marks.

What once appeared to be routine industry maneuvering now reads like the opening chapter of a much larger power struggle.

Another thread exposed growing unease over North Wilkesboro Raceway. NASCAR leadership discussed fast-tracking an announcement to bring NWR back under their umbrella, a calculated effort to keep Earnhardt Jr. from lending his star power to an SRX event at the iconic short track.

Yet despite the urgency, the CARS Tour ultimately beat NASCAR to the punch. In Aug. 2022, CARS Tour, in association with XR and Speedway Motorsports, staged a marquee event at Wilkesboro, months before NASCAR made its own triumphant return with the 2023 All-Star Race at a fully restored speedway.

Taken together, these exchanges paint a picture far more combustible than the public ever saw, a sanctioning body feeling the heat from rival series, and a rising independent power players.

And now, with the Dec. 1 trial date closing in, the consequences of those private conversations are no longer hypothetical. They are evidence… They are leveraging. And they can very well shape the outcome of the most consequential legal fight NASCAR has faced in a generation.