Just weeks after inflammatory text messages sent by NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps were revealed in court documents, the racing executive announced that he is resigning.
NASCAR announced the news Tuesday, Jan. 6, writing in a press release that Phelps, 63, “has made the personal decision to step away from the company and his role as commissioner” of the organization.
“Phelps, who joined NASCAR in 2005, will transition out of the company by the end of the month,” NASCAR announced.
The news comes less than a month after Phelps found himself in the midst of controversy surrounding the release of text messages he had sent about other NASCAR personalities, including former driver and team owner Richard Childress. The messages were unsealed as part of the lawsuit between Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR, which the sides settled in early December.
In one text, Phelps allegedly wrote to another NASCAR executive that he believed Childress, 80, was a “stupid redneck who owes his entire fortune to NASCAR” and in another wrote that Childress should be “taken out back and flogged.