NASCAR Can’t Seem to Get Its Story Straight Regarding This One Small Detail About SRX

What’s Happening?

During the ongoing NASCAR antitrust trial, NASCAR fans are continuing to point out one mistake made by two key figures within NASCAR. But there may be more than meets the eye when it comes to this issue.

One of the most shocking moments of the ongoing antitrust lawsuit filed by NASCAR teams 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports was the unsealing of text messages shared between NASCAR officials, including former NASCAR President and current Commissioner, Steve Phelps, and former COO, now President, Steve O’Donnell.

These messages included, but were not limited to, talks about the now-defunct spec racing series SRX, which operated under the ownership of former NASCAR Crew Chief Ray Evernham and NASCAR legend Tony Stewart from 2021 to 2023.

In the messages, Phelps and O’Donnell, alongside other officials, expressed their fears about the start-up, all-star racing series, with Phelps saying in one exchange, “Need to put a knife in this trash series,” and O’Donnell saying in another, “This is NASCAR. Pure and simple. Enough. We need legal to take a shot at this.”

NASCAR fans took issue with these texts not only for the aggression shown towards the cult-favorite racing league, but also due in part to the insecurity NASCAR officials were having about another league somewhat encroaching on their turf.

During the past few sessions of the now underway antitrust trial, both Phelps and O’Donnell took the witness stand, with the two speaking not only on the text messages but also on SRX as a whole.

Elliott, the No. 9, and SRX

The two long-time NASCAR executives both had similar answers as to why they took such an aggressive stance against SRX, including their, at the time, upcoming media rights negotiations with networks, NASCAR owners and drivers racing in SRX, and the general look and feel of the series.

However, there was another point of contention with SRX, one that centered around a specific breakthrough moment for the series during its inaugural season.

For the final race of the 2021 SRX season, the series headed to the iconic Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. Not only would this race return the iconic short track to national TV on CBS, but NASCAR legend Bill Elliott would race head-to-head with his son Chase Elliott, NASCAR’s reigning champion, that weekend.

Overall, the race in Nashville was a big win for the series, beating the NASCAR Xfinity Series in viewership, scoring 1.3 million viewers on CBS, compared to the Xfinity Series’ 1.08 million earlier that day. Though it is worth noting that SRX was on free television in prime time, while the Xfinity Series was mid-day on NBCSN.

So, aside from the ratings loss, what issue could Phelps and O’Donnell have with this event?

Well, to no surprise, the problem they had was Chase Elliott.

Now, NASCAR drivers racing in SRX was nothing new, using their usual number was nothing new, and even bringing along their iconic sponsor, like Elliot did, and eventually Denny Hamlin did, was nothing new. But, Phelps and O’Donnell claimed Elliott, driving the stylized No. 9 with NAPA sponsorship in the SRX race, had raised concerns with their TV partners.

This ties back to O’Donnell’s testimony last week, in which he said SRX “started to look more and more like NASCAR,” suggesting that SRX could have been creating confusion in the marketplace.

But, as many now know, Elliott did not drive a “stylized” No. 9 that day in Nashville; he drove the No. 94, his father’s long-time number and his former number in the NASCAR Truck Series (of which the SRX number looked similar to).

The NASCAR fanbase was very quick to jump on this claim, pointing out this inaccuracy across the realm of NASCAR social media.

Some fans also pointed out that while he did have NAPA sponsorship that evening in Nashville, Elliott actually never raced the combination of NAPA and the No. 9 in his two career SRX starts, as in his second race with the No. 9, which fans also demonstrated was not stylized in any particular way, he had sponsorship from ASHOC Energy.

Even though NASCAR fans have, generally, pushed back at this narrative from Phelps and O’Donnell, suggesting that they need to get their story straight, though it may not be that simple.

SRX and NASCAR

First, and very important to this discussion, is the individual who reached out to Phelps and O’Donnell, concerned about Elliott Racing in the series with his number and sponsor, was NBC Sports Executive Producer & President Sam Flood.

Of course (as we know), this is not entirely true, as evidenced by the thousands of posts yesterday about Elliott driving a familiar-looking No. 94, and not the “stylized” No. 9.

But this minor inaccuracy does not make NASCAR’s point moot. While they may have the number mixed up, Elliott was NASCAR’s reigning champion, racing with his well-known sponsor in a different oval racing series, on another network.

Around this time, NASCAR was gearing up to work on a new media rights package, the same one that kicked off this spring, and the same one that gave the teams, at the very least, an increase in revenue sharing in the Charter system, and, if the networks were concerned, NASCAR needed to show some, if not equal, concern.

To treck even further in this direction, the idea that the two series could be confused is not outlandish.

While fans who watch week in and week out may be able to easily list 20 reasons that SRX was different from NASCAR (i.e., the large rear wing, the giant X on the side, or uniform designs), it is reasonable to assume casual racing fans, or even non-racing fans, could get the two mixed up.

After all, there are quite a few people who do not realize NASCAR does not race in the Indy 500, yet it still races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway; there are even those who don’t even realize the sport races on road courses, let alone street courses.

Nonetheless, this obviously doesn’t mean SRX had cruel intentions, something NASCAR’s legal team seemingly agreed with at the time, as during his testimony, Phelps claimed that the sport’s legal team looked into SRX and saw nothing worth pursuing in court.

So, for the time being, yes, Phelps and O’Donnell, and even perhaps Flood, did say the wrong number, but it was a small detail that was just a drop in the pan of a much larger story going on at the time.

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