‘An idiot who needs to be flogged’: tempers rise in Steve Phelps NASCAR case

In America, many fans view the Daytona 24 Hours as the event that heralds the start of the new racing season. And it is indeed a fine showcase, with a diverse field of international sports car stars that also taps deeply into IndyCar and occasionally NASCAR and Formula 1.

But in truth, the new year kicks off even before the turn of the calendar. The Snowball Derby is a super late model stock car event run in early December at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida that showcases up-and-coming drivers as well as short-track lifers. Keelan Harvick, 13-year-old son of NASCAR great Kevin Harvick, won the Snowflake 125 support race this year; two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch says his 10-year-old son Brexton is on a two-year timetable to compete.

Then there’s the Chili Bowl Nationals, a week-long event for midget cars run on a fifth-of-a-mile indoor dirt oval at the Tulsa Expo Center in Oklahoma. The Chili Bowl attracts the cream of the short track open-wheel crop; prior winners include NASCAR Cup Series stars Kyle Larson, Tony Stewart and Christopher Bell. It’s the Super Bowl or World Cup for an ancient form of racing that still manages to maintain a sliver of relevance in the modern world.

The past couple months were anything but tranquil for NASCAR since the 2025 Cup Series championship was decided in controversial fashion in early November. The lawsuit brought by Front Row Motorsports and 23XI Racing accusing the stock car sanctioning body of anticompetitive behaviour went to trial on December 1, and for the next 10 days an enormous amount of dirty laundry was aired in public. Most damning were texts from series top brass including NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps, who was revealed to have called team owner Richard Childress a “stupid redneck who owes his entire fortune to NASCAR” and an “idiot who needs to be taken out back and flogged”.

On the 10th day of testimony, Johnny Morris, the founder of hunting and fishing retailer Bass Pro Shops (and long-time Richard Childress Racing sponsor), issued a statement condemning Phelps, saying it was “abundantly clear that he and his lieutenants are not capable of being fair and objective when it comes to impartially enforcing the rules and regulations that govern the sport, including the objective assessment of fines and penalties. This is a threat to the very integrity of the sport.”

“NASCAR made ownership of the 36 team charters permanent”

Before court convened the next day (December 11), attorneys for NASCAR and the complainant teams requested a meeting with Judge Kenneth Bell in his quarters. When they emerged after several hours, the judge announced a settlement had been reached that pretty much got the teams what they wanted – a bigger piece of the revenue pie. More importantly, NASCAR made ownership of the 36 team charters (or franchises) permanent, rather than reserving its right to revisit their status every media rights cycle. The settlement was viewed as a major victory not only for FRM and 23XI, but for every NASCAR team owner.

The trial received an inordinate amount of mainstream media attention in the US because 23XI is co-owned by NASCAR star Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan, one of the most popular American athletes of all time. Jordan is a North Carolina native and stock car racing fan who developed a friendship with Hamlin. He believes the kind of equity enjoyed by franchise owners in stick-and-ball sports needs to be present in NASCAR. “From the beginning, this lawsuit was about progress,” Jordan said.

“I’ve cared deeply about the sport of NASCAR my entire life,” added Hamlin. “Racing is all I’ve ever known, and this sport shaped who I am. That’s why we were willing to shoulder the challenges that came with taking this stand. We believed it was worth fighting for a stronger and more sustainable future for everyone in the industry.”

Within a few weeks Phelps announced his resignation but while the NASCAR world was still reacting to news of the settlement, retired driver Greg Biffle and his family were killed on December 18 when Biffle’s Cessna 550 Citation jet crashed shortly after take-off. It’s uncertain who was piloting the aircraft (Biffle was a licensed pilot who garnered praise in 2024 for flying his own helicopter on rescue missions in the wake of Hurricane Helene) and there was no mayday call, but Biffle’s wife texted her mother to say the flight was in trouble and would be making an emergency landing. An attempt to return to Statesville Airport fell short as the aircraft hit landing lights and a line of trees 1800ft from the runway and exploded into flames.

Biffle, 55, won the 2000 Truck Series championship and 19 Cup Series races, and in 2023 was named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers. Ten days later, a home owned by Denny Hamlin and occupied by his parents was destroyed by fire. Hamlin commissioned the property to thank them for the investment they made in his early career. Already in the throes of a terminal illness, Dennis Hamlin perished in the fire, and his wife Mary Lou remains under the care of a burn specialist after being hospitalised in critical condition.

Denny Hamlin was a lightning rod in the court case over charters, and even before that, was comfortable being cast as NASCAR’s villain. Now he is viewed as a sympathetic figure. He’ll be cheered to the hilt in February at the Daytona 500, and rightfully so.

Based in Indianapolis, John Oreovicz has been covering US racing for 33 years. He is author of the 2021 book Indy Split