Richard Childress Racing said in a Monday statement that ‘legal action in being contemplated’ after its eponymous team owner was insulted by NASCAR executives in text messages unsealed as part of the ongoing 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports lawsuit against the sanctioning body.
“RCR and Richard Childress are deeply disappointed by the insensitive and defamatory statements made about Mr. Childress in recently surfaced text messages between NASCAR executives Steve Phelps and Brian Herbst. These comments reflect the way certain NASCAR executives have historically viewed and treated many team owners like Mr. Childress, who have devoted their lives to strengthening the sport for its fans, its sponsors, and all who compete in it. RCR and Richard Childress are equally disappointed for the NASCAR fans, with whom Mr. Childress closely identifies given his humble and hard-working background.
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“Mr. Childress and the organization will issue no further statements regarding these or other defamatory text messages that have recently surfaced, as legal action is being contemplated and discussed with legal counsel.”
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Steve Phelps calls Richard Childress a redneck idiot in unsealed text
In the 2023 text messages that were unsealed on Friday night, NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps said Childress ‘needs to be taken out back and flogged. He’s a stupid redneck who owes his entire fortune to NASCAR’ in a text conversation with Chief Media Officer Brian Herbst.
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Phelps added, again, that ‘Childress is an idiot’ and ‘if they don’t like the sport, sell (your) charter and get out.’ And for good measure, he told Herbst again that ‘Did I mention that Childress is an idiot.’
The animus dates back to a SiriusXM NASCAR Radio hit where Childress said some things about the state of the charter negotiations that didn’t sit well with NASCAR leadership. Specifically, Childress said he could build 14 Gen-6 cars for the price of seven NextGens. And when asked if the new TV deal could be a positive, he said ‘for who?’
Since then, the Childress team has also been penalized in two significant ways, having Austin Dillon’s playoff status stripped following a win at Richmond in 2024 in which the driver crashed both Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano on the final lap in the final corner to do so.
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Austin Hill also lost his playoff points for a right rear hook intentional crash of Aric Almirola this year. At the time, Childress said he was just a dumb redneck when asked if he felt the penalties were personal, insinuating that he knew to a degree what had been said.
Over the weekend, NASCAR officials have said privately that Phelps had reached out to Childress to notify him of the impending unsealed text messages but no details have emerged over the contents of that conversation.
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