Steve Phelps became NASCAR’s first commissioner in March 2025 after previously serving as its president since 2018. However, he will be leaving that position ahead of the 2026 season, and there aren’t any plans to line up a suitable replacement anytime soon. The duties he served will instead be shared by other executives. But what led to this sudden turn of events?
The core cause of his resignation is the inflammatory text messages that were revealed during the antitrust lawsuit proceedings between NASCAR and 23XI Racing/Front Row Motorsports. Phelps had spoken badly about Richard Childress, one of the most respected veterans of the sport, and offensively insulted him in these messages. It led to widespread disruption of NASCAR’s image.
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Former driver Kenny Wallace spoke about this in a recent video posted to his YouTube channel, detailing how Phelps might have been NASCAR’s scapegoat to fix everything wrong. He pointed out the statement that Bass Pro Shops CEO Johnny Morris made after the messages came to light. Morris, a longtime friend of Childress and a reputed sponsor in NASCAR, hadn’t sounded very happy in it.
He wrote, “…Such blatant disrespect would probably not sit well with the fans – such a commissioner most likely wouldn’t, or shouldn’t keep his or her job for very long!” This is where Wallace sees the silver lining. He emphasized that Phelps is gone now because NASCAR doesn’t want to antagonize the most powerful and wealthy people in the industry.
Bass Pro Shops has been a long-time supporter of NASCAR, sponsoring Richard Childress Racing since 1998. Firing him was the only way to fix the image issue the promotion was suffering from and move forward.
Wallace added, “So, NASCAR has an image issue. I don’t think Steve Phelps could have walked around the pit area. Could you imagine Steve Phelps the first week at Daytona? How could he have walked around the garage area?” It surely would have been as awkward for the drivers and crew members as it would have been for Phelps himself. In that light, perhaps, this is only for the good.
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Wallace was also keen to bring across his opinion that the good work that Phelps did with NASCAR must not go unappreciated because of the one bad thing he did. Again, his resignation was only a plausible outcome of all the fiasco that went down over the past couple of years. Fresh beginnings await the sport with the 2026 season on the horizon.
The post Kenny Wallace Reveals the Real Reason Steve Phelps and NASCAR Parted Ways appeared first on The SportsRush.
