Man, Richard Childress isn’t even part of this lawsuit and he can’t quit catching strays.
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, and the biggest development so far has been getting to find out everybody’s true feelings about the owner of Richard Childress Racing.
It seemed like the two sides in the lawsuit 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. That means that teams are required to submit any evidence they intend to use in their case, so over the weekend we got our first look at what’s been exchanged behind the scenes already. And one text message in particular seemed to get a lot of attention.
The message showed then-NASCAR President Steve Phelps (who is now the “Commissioner” of NASCAR) fuming over 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.
Childress had given an interview on SiriusXM about the charter negotiations, and wasn’t happy with the way things were going. After listening to the interview, Phelps said Childress, who owns the #3 car for Austin Dillon and the #8 car of Kyle Busch in the NASCAR Cup Series, “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.”
Brutal.
Of course NASCAR fans were outraged that high-level executives in the sport would call a team owner a “stupid redneck,” and Phelps had reportedly already contacted Childress to let him know about the messages and do damage control before they were released.
But as it turns out, it’s not the only unflattering message about Childress in the evidence that’s been unsealed so far.
These messages are between an unnamed recipient and Jeff Dickerson, the co-owner of Spire Motorsports which will field the #77 car for Carson Hocevar, the #71 car for Michael McDowell and the #7 car for Daniel Suarez in 2026. The two are apparently discussing the most recent proposed charter agreement from NASCAR, and Dickerson appears pleased with it – though he expects that Childress will not be:
“I hope RC says a word about this document so I can tell him what a cuck he looked like with Trump.”
Dickerson is referring to Childress hosting President Donald Trump at the 2024 Coca-Cola 600, where Trump watched part of the race with Childress on top of the #3 pit box of Austin Dillon.
As with the other messages, nobody involved has spoken on them since they’ve been released (probably on the advice of counsel not to address them until after the lawsuit is over), but man, it seems like Richard Childress just can’t catch a break.
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.
