SRX racing alum ‘disappointed but not surprised’ by NASCAR chiefs’ attitude

NASCAR reporter Tom Bowles, who also happens to be a former SRX racing alum, has recently made his stance clear on the leaked texts between NASCAR leaders Steve O’Donnell and Steve Phelps. The controversy centers on internal messages that surfaced during the antitrust case involving 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.

These texts showed how NASCAR reacted when active Cup drivers chose to race in SRX and how the series was treated as a growing threat. Tom Bowles wrote on X,

“As an @SRXracing alum disappointed but not surprised at these texts/attitude. Ever hear of the phrase ‘A rising tide lifts all boats?’ You’d think #nascar would care to ask so many of their key people WHY they were crossing over. Instead? The move was to conspire against them.”

Bowels did so while retweeting a post by Bob Pockrass on X. Pockrass shared screenshots of the leaked messages. The messages became part of the redacted exhibits filed ahead of the summary judgment hearings on November 22. According to the Yahoo report, the texts were originally exchanged during SRX’s third season when the series was gaining traction.

SRX had active NASCAR drivers racing on a major network and had even outrated NASCAR’s Xfinity and Truck Series the previous weekend. More internal messages from 2023 were also included in the filings. These showed how Steve O’Donnell reacted when Denny Hamlin decided to run an SRX event. He texted:

“This is NASCAR. Pure and simple. Enough. We need legal to take a shot at this.”

Steve Phelps added another message:

“These guys are just plain stupid. Need to put a knife in this trash series.”

These leaked conversations were used by the plaintiffs to support their claim that NASCAR uses its control over schedules, sponsorship rules and the charter system to limit competition. The filings also included texts from Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin criticizing the charter talks and the lack of transparency.

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“It is much easier to make the Truck Series than to reach the Cup level,” says RAM CEO about NASCAR plans

RAM CEO Tim Kuniskis spoke to Fox Sports reporter Bob Pockrass about the company’s long term NASCAR plans. RAM has already put together a large program in the Truck Series.

The Stellantis owned brand will field five RAM 1500 trucks with Kaulig Racing as the main factory team. Three full time drivers have been set.

The fourth truck will run as a free agency entry with different drivers, and the fifth truck has not been finalized yet. Kuniskis said this partnership with Kaulig only exists because RAM intends to reach the NASCAR Cup Series at some point. He told Fox Sports:

“You can't get a team the caliber of Kaulig without a sincere desire to go to Cup. It is 100 percent our desire to go to Cup. It's very difficult, though. It's much easier to go to truck than it is to Cup, and it takes a long time.”

Kuniskis added that people warn him the timeline is longer than he might expect, but the company is working toward the goal anyway. He explained,

“They would never have signed with us. They would have never formed this partnership if we didn't have a sincere desire to get there. And we do. We want to get there. It is our goal to get there. People tell me it's going to take way longer than I have the patience for, but we're trying.”

Kuniskis said the engine program is the main reason RAM cannot enter the NASCAR Cup Series right away. Developing a competitive Cup engine requires years of work. Despite these challenges RAM intends to keep moving toward a Cup entry since it is part of their long-term plan for NASCAR.

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Edited by Tushhita Barua