NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps’ Revealing Testimony In NASCAR Trial

NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps speaks to the media during the NASCAR annual "State of the Sport" press conference at Phoenix Raceway on October 31, 2025. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)Getty ImagesNASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps’ testimony was the highlight of Tuesday’s NASCAR Trial as the lead man at NASCAR explained the frustrations of negotiating with 23XI Racing. Phelps testified in Federal Court in Charlotte, North Carolina on December 9.23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan entrusted Curtis Polk with negotiating with NASCAR during a two-year negotiation process for the most recent Charter agreement that began at the start of 2025. Polk was the lead representative to negotiate for the NASCAR teams and demanded increased revenue, permanent charters, a voice in NASCAR governance and one-third of any new revenue streams.But when NASCAR presented the new Charter system to the teams in September 2024, it did not include permanent charters or a role in the governing of NASCAR. Once the agreement was issued to the teams, NASCAR gave a firm deadline to accept the final offer or forfeit the Charters. 23XI Racing, owned by Jordan, Polk and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports, owned by Bob Jenkins, were the only two teams out of 15 organizations to refuse to sign and have instead sued.A NASCAR Charter is similar to the franchise model used in other sports and began in NASCAR in 2016. A NASCAR Charter guarantees cars a spot in the 40-car field each week, as well as specified financial terms.During NASCAR Trial, Phelps Admits He Did Not Enjoy Negotiating With Curtis Polk According to a report by Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press, Phelps testified Jordan’s financial advisor would not compromise on key issues. During Phelps testimony on the seventh day of the trial, that he worked very hard to get the teams the best deal possible. But he said the teams’ initial request for $720 million in revenue a year guaranteed to them would have put NASCAR out of business, and communications between NASCAR executives showed that the France family, which founded and owns the series, would not budge on permanent charters. MORE FOR YOUNeither did Polk.“It was one of the most challenging and longest negotiations I’ve ever been part of,” Phelps said, who also revealed during his testimony he didn’t particularly enjoy negotiating with Polk, who was at the time the representative for the “Team Negotiating Council.”“The TNC never wavered off their four pillars. It was just the same thing, the same thing, and that was very frustrating,” Phelps said.As negotiations continued, Phelps was confident NASCAR had a new charter agreement that would satisfy the teams, contingent on a new media rights deal, according to AP.“I thought we’d just plug in the numbers,” said Phelps, who testified NASCAR was hoping to land a media deal worth $1.2 billion. NASCAR ultimately got a media deal worth $1.05 billion — still an increase of $33 million a year from the previous deal — and Phelps said “every dollar” went to the race teams when it began this year.The ultimate revenue payout to teams is $431 million annually, the charters are not permanent, and the teams did not get a voice in rules and regulations. NASCAR Chairman Jim France was described as a “brick wall” on the issue of permanent charters and executives, in NASCAR Communications that have been released in the discovery process of the trial. That stubbornness was frustrating during negotiations.Jim France (center), NASCAR chairman and CEO, departs the Charles R Jonas Federal Building on December 1, 2025 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Baldwin/Getty Images)Getty ImagesThose messages were shown in court and both Phelps and current NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell repeatedly lashed out at the lack of internal progress as they fought to get the teams the best deal possible. More NASCAR Trial DetailsOther interesting details from Tuesday’s NASCAR Trial included when Phelps was asked to reveal his salary. According to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports, Phelps makes $2.5 million a year in his new role as NASCAR Commissioner. When he was NASCAR President, Phelps earned $1.6 million a year. He can potentially collect $2.5 in bonuses in his compensation package.The nearly $400 million that the France family has been paid in the last four years (2021-2024), Phelps explained 75 percent of that money paid to the France family went to taxes. That leaves roughly $100 million not in taxes.

Attorney Jeffrey Kessler, representing 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, pressed Phelps on the sport’s track agreements during direct examination. When Phelps was asked about the track agreements, he didn’t seem to recall or did not know when the exclusivity clauses began. There is an article from 2016 from when Pockrass was at ESPN that seems to pinpoint when these exclusivity agreements arose. Jeff Gluck of The Athletic says that the article was brought up in court. It was an agreement with Dover that raised a small red flag then.Pace in the trial has picked up on the order of U.S.

District Judge Kenneth Bell, who has grown weary that it’s taken the plaintiffs seven days of testimony and counting.

The teams still plan to call Hall of Fame team owner Richard Childress and France before resting its case in the NASCAR Trial.