{"id":55864,"date":"2026-01-06T19:59:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T01:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=55864"},"modified":"2026-01-19T20:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T02:03:12","slug":"steve-phelps-decides-to-step-away-from-nascar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/06\/steve-phelps-decides-to-step-away-from-nascar\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Phelps decides to step away from NASCAR"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

NASCAR announced Tuesday that Steve Phelps will be leaving his position as Commissioner of the stock car sanctioning body after a two-decade long career in the sport\u2019s executive leadership.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Steve Phelps. (Photo by David Becker\/NASCAR via Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The decision was Phelps\u2019 and NASCAR leaders offered the 63-year old Vermont-native praise for the legacy and accomplishments he leaves behind over a long career of guiding the sport \u2013 noting \u201ca legacy of leadership and a strategic vision that delivered significant growth and lasting innovation, championed equity and social justice initiatives, and created industry-wide opportunities for all stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelps held the helm of the sport through a modern-era time of both great challenges \u2013 such as navigating the COVID pandemic – and noted triumphs, such as a broader international presence and billion-dollar media rights agreements.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a lifelong race fan, it gives me immense pride to have served as NASCAR\u2019s first Commissioner and to lead our great sport through so many incredible challenges, opportunities and firsts over my 20 years,\u2019\u2019 Phelps said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur sport is built on the passion of our fans, the dedication of our teams and partners and the commitment of our wonderful employees. It has been an honor to help synthesize the enthusiasm of long-standing NASCAR stakeholders and that of new entrants to our ecosystem, such as media partners, auto manufacturers, track operators and incredible racing talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among Phelps\u2019 legacies as a leader is what many in the sport consider a \u201ctransformational\u201d new schedule in NASCAR\u2019s big leagues, from the holding the annual \u201cClash\u201d preseason feature at California\u2019s famed Los Angeles Coliseum to adding races again at some of NASCAR\u2019s favored venerable facilities such as North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway and Raleigh\u2019s Bowman Gray Stadium to adding first-time street races in Chicago and this year in San Diego, as well as bringing NASCAR internationally to a well-received event in Mexico City last season.<\/p>\n

Among the highlights under Phelp\u2019s tenure, NASCAR completed its merger with International Speedway Corporation (ISC) in 2019 and launched the Next Gen race car in 2022 \u2013 only the seventh new car in the sport\u2019s history. He is also credited with leading the sport\u2019s outreach to new fans and of course, securing a long-term media rights deal, and overseeing the sport\u2019s innovative charter agreements.<\/p>\n

\u201cSteve will forever be remembered as one of NASCAR\u2019s most impactful leaders,” NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France said, calling it an \u201chonor\u201d to work alongside Phelps.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor decades he has worked tirelessly to thrill fans, support team and execute a vision for the sport that has treated us all to some of the greatest moments in our nearly 80-year history,” France said.<\/p>\n

Phelps thanked the France family, colleagues, friends and fans for playing an \u201cimportant and motivational role in my career\u201d said he plans to \u201cembark on new pursuits in sports and other industries.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reigning NASCAR Cup Series championship Hendrick Motorsports organization released a statement thanking Phelps for his ‘leadership and dedication to NASCAR” noting he “helped our sport navigate opportunities, challenges and periods of significant change while positioning it for the future.”<\/p>\n

No successor to Phelps has been named and in a statement announcing Phelps planned departure, NASCAR said, \u201cthere are no immediate plans to replace the Commissioner role or to seek outside leadership as the administration of his responsibilities will be delegated internally through NASCAR\u2019s President and executive leadership team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service NASCAR announced Tuesday that Steve Phelps will be leaving his position as Commissioner of the stock car sanctioning body after a two-decade long career in the sport\u2019s executive leadership. The decision was Phelps\u2019 and NASCAR leaders offered the 63-year old Vermont-native praise for the legacy and accomplishments he leaves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":29803,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,779],"class_list":["post-55864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-steve-phelps"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/NASCAR-Las-Vegas-12313-Motorsports-Forum-Steve-Phelps-1-scaled.jpg?fit=1931%2C2560&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-ex2","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55864"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55867,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55864\/revisions\/55867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}