NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps on Tuesday announced his resignation after more than 20 years with the top racing series in the United States and a nasty federal trial in which inflammatory texts he sent during contentious revenue sharing negotiations were revealed.
Phelps will leave the company at the end of the month, ahead of the start of the season. He was named NASCAR’s first commissioner last season after a courting process for the same role by the PGA Tour. The opportunity with the PGA was revealed during December testimony of the antitrust trial brought by two race teams against NASCAR.
But the top executive at NASCAR was deeply bruised during the trial — and the discovery process leading into it — when communications he exchanged with top leadership was exposed. In one exchange, Phelps called Hall of Fame team owner Richard Childress “a stupid redneck” who “needs to be taken out back and flogged.”
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