{"id":304561,"date":"2025-11-24T21:46:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T21:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/304561\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T21:46:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T21:46:09","slug":"childress-threatens-nascar-in-response-to-redneck-remarks-motorsport-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/304561\/","title":{"rendered":"Childress threatens NASCAR in response to ‘redneck’ remarks – Motorsport – Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

The approaching courtroom battle between 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports and NASCAR has spilled over outside of the quarreling trio, with Hall of Famer Richard Childress now catching strays.<\/p>\n

Denny Hamlin<\/a> and Michael Jordan<\/a>\u2019s 23XI joined forces with FRM in opting not to sign NASCAR<\/a>\u2019s new charter agreement in 2024, instead filing an antitrust lawsuit against the organization<\/a>, claiming it behaves in a \u201cmonopolistic\u201d manner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the two sides were recently unable to come to terms on a settlement in Charlotte, North Carolina, and NASCAR\u2019s counterclaim was subsequently brushed aside<\/a>, the main case is now set to go to trial on December 1.<\/p>\n

As part of the pre-trial depositions, both sides are gathering information, including relevant facts, figures, and private messages. One set of harsh messages regarding Childress<\/a>, dating back to 2023, from NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps could have disastrous consequences for the organization outside of the current lawsuit following a threatening response from Richard Childress Racing.<\/p>\n

The messages in question were between Phelps and Chief Media & Revenue Officer Brian Herbst, who, at the time, was sending the commissioner updates during a debate regarding the impending new broadcast rights deal, as he attempted to unify the teams involved.<\/p>\n

Sign up to our NASCAR newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n

In one message, Herbst said to Phelps, \u201cI do think \u2013 at some point \u2013 it would be helpful for you\/me to get in a big room with these owners\/presidents to talk about state of the media business, fragility of the day 1 model, and how we all need to come together in order to stand a chance in 2030\/2031.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, a clearly frustrated Phelps lashed out, saying, \u201cI agree with you. Did you give them some sense of how bad things are out there? Childress needs to be taken out back and flogged. He\u2019s a stupid redneck who owes his entire fortune to NASCAR.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, Phelps added, \u201cThese guys are short sighted and self serving. Childress is an idiot. If they don\u2019t like the state of the sport, sell your charter and get out.\u201d If that wasn\u2019t insulting enough, he also said, \u201cDid I mention Childress is an idiot. If he\u2019s that angry (and apparently he is) sign your charter extension and sell. He\u2019s not smart, is a dinosaur, and a malcontent. He\u2019s worth a couple hundred million dollars \u2014 every dollar associated with NASCAR in some fashion. Total a**-clown.\u201d<\/p>\n

Childress has now responded to the exchange, releasing a statement reading, \u201cRCR and Richard Childress are deeply disappointed by the insensitive and defamatory statements made about Mr. Childress in recently surfaced text messages between NASCAR executives Steve Phelps and Brian Herbst.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese comments reflect the way certain NASCAR executives have historically viewed and treated many team owners like Mr. Childress, who have devoted their lives to strengthening the sport for its fans, its sponsors, and all who compete in it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRCR and Richard Childress are equally disappointed for the NASCAR fans, with whom Mr. Childress closely identifies given his humble and hard-working background.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Childress and the organization will issue no further statements regarding these or other defamatory text messages that have recently surfaced, as legal action is being contemplated and discussed with legal counsel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The approaching courtroom battle between 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports and NASCAR has spilled over outside of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[48728,49,48,2332,634,9535,82,10364],"class_list":{"0":"post-304561","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-antitrust-lawsuit","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-motorsport-section","12":"tag-nascar","13":"tag-richard-childress","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-steve-phelps"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}