NASCAR has been embroiled in controversy of late with 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports\u2019 antitrust lawsuit claiming \u201cmonopolistic\u201d behaviour against the organization, nearing its December 1 trial date in Charlotte, North Carolina.<\/p>\n
The pre-trial depositions on both sides have been eye-opening to say the least, but particularly so with regard to those at the top of the NASCAR<\/a> pyramid, commissioner Steve Phelps and president Steve O\u2019Donnell, the latter of whom tore into 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin in one set of messages<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n But while these messages may have come out of the blue to those outside the NASCAR circle, according to suspended five-time Cup Series race winner Jeremy Mayfield<\/a>, this is the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n In previously private messages from 2023, Phelps brutally tore into Hall of Famer and team owner Richard Childress<\/a> whilst communicating with Chief Media & Revenue Officer Brian Herbst. At the time, Herbst was attempting to unify teams as they worked towards a new broadcast rights deal – one which ended up being worth $7.7 billion through 2031.<\/p>\n During the back and forth with Herbst, Phelps laid into Childress specifically, commenting at one point, \u201cChildress needs to be taken out back and flogged. He\u2019s a stupid redneck who owes his entire fortune to NASCAR.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign up to our NASCAR newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n Phelps even said at one point, \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 Childress has since threatened legal action<\/a>.<\/p>\n Firing back at these messages, Mayfield, who was suspended in 2009, having tested positive for methamphetamines twice, posted<\/a> on social media, \u201cIf it weren\u2019t for \u201cstupid\u201d rednecks those \u201csuits\u201d wouldn\u2019t have a job.\u201d<\/p>\n In a subsequent post he elaborated, writing<\/a>, \u201cPhelps & Steve O dissing RC isn\u2019t just out of line, it shows exactly how far this sport has drifted from who built it. RC didn\u2019t need NASCAR [to] become who he is, but they d\u2014 sure needed him. [You] don\u2019t disrespect a man who\u2019s done more [for] NASCAR accidentally than they\u2019ve done on purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n But Mayfield, who has long stuck by his innocence, vehemently believing that his 2009 positive results were as a result of a mixture of having taken Claritin-D along with Adderall prescribed by his doctor, as per Newsweek<\/a>, had more to say on the ongoing matter.<\/p>\n