Phelps, O’Donnell Give State of the Sport Update at Phoenix

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

AVONDALE, Ariz. – As is custom at the season finale, NASCAR President Steve Phelps and Chief Operating Officer Steve O’Donnell took to the stage in front of assembled media to discuss a range of topics currently concerning the sport in 2024.

This year, the focus was on the recent race manipulation penalties at Martinsville, officiating challenges that have occurred in multiple series this year, charter negotiations, the Playoff format and whether the drivers vying for the championship are the most deserving, among others.

After nearly an hour behind the podium, Phelps wrapped everything up with a succinct statement regarding his feelings for where the sport truly stands.

“I’ve said this at every single one of these States of the Sport. This is my seventh year saying this. And I will say it this year, next year, and the following years, which is the best days at NASCAR are not behind us. They are ahead of us. And I believe that to be true.”

O’Donnell: Martinsville “Pissed Me Off”

Since the end of last Sunday’s penultimate race of the NASCAR Cup Series season at Martinsville, the talk of the industry has been focused on the actions of the OEMs, teams, and drivers involved in the actions that allowed the integrity of the Playoffs and the championship to come into question.

As the laps wound down, Chevrolet drivers Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon ran a blockade for William Byron, who was struggling in the closing laps and in danger of losing enough spots to fall out of position to be able to advance into the Championship 4.

On the Toyota side, Bubba Wallace ran well off the pace in the closing laps to allow Christopher Bell to catch up to him and have a chance to make his aggressive move into Turn 4, which would have bumped him ahead of Byron if the move would have been called legal.

NASCAR announced on Tuesday its decision on penalties stemming from those actions, with Chastain (Trackhouse Racing), Dillon (RCR), and Wallace (23XI Racing) were each docked 50 driver points and hit with a $100,000 fine. Their respective owners were also handed the same points and monetary fines.

The crew chiefs and spotters from all three teams were also suspended for the season finale at Phoenix Raceway this coming Sunday. Phil Surgen, Justin Alexander, and Bootie Barker are the crew chiefs suspended, along with spotters Brandon McReynolds, Brandon Benesch and Freddie Kraft.

Team executives from each organization (Tony Lunders, Keith Rodden and Dave Rogers) were also suspended for the Phoenix race.

Days later, it was clear that what had transpired at Martinsville had rubbed everyone at NASCAR the wrong way, especially O’Donnell who didn’t mince words about the situation.

“It’s unbelievable that we’re sitting here talking about this topic. And I’ll probably get in trouble for saying this, but I’ll say it anyway, I’ve been around a long time. But Bill France used to say being pissed off is not a plan. What I saw in Martinsville pissed me off and it pisses everyone off at NASCAR.

“Because we all know better and we know what happened. So, we do have rules in the rule book where we can address it. And we did. We had a call with our OEMs where we were very clear in what our intentions are going forward.”

O’Donnell added that while the drivers themselves were not penalized from the events at Martinsville, that won’t necessarily be the case going forward should the same thing happen again.

“We made the decision that the drivers are holding the wheel, but the drivers were told essentially what to do. We gave them the benefit of the doubt. Saturday’s message from Elton and John to the drivers will be that that’s your warning. We know what happened and going forward, we’ll have to penalize you as well.

“What do our words mean? We’re not going to let people, drivers, teams, anyone, OEMs, challenge the integrity of the sport.”

Charter Talk, or the Lack Thereof

In recent years, charters have been the elephant in the room, with teams and the sanctioning body going back and forth in their negotiations for the new agreement on how they will co-exist from 2025 and beyond.

All of the teams, with the exception of 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports signed the new deal, which Phelps touted as a positive step forward for those that signed on the dotted line.

“We are very happy that 32 of our 36 charters were extended. And we are excited about that because those race teams, the deal that was put on the table for them, which primarily the big win for the race teams was money,” said Phelps.

“And I won’t go into what that money split looks like, but what I will say is that amount of money it now puts the race team starting in ‘25 as the single largest beneficiary of our media deal. And we did that because the race teams were upside down financially. So, two ways to get outta that, right? You give ’em more money, right? Or help them earn more money through sponsorship. So, we have done the former, we’re going to do the latter to help our race teams and then trying to cut costs. And that provides for healthy race teams.

“Our expectation is moving forward, the race teams are gonna be financially healthy. And why should fans care about that? Fans should care that care about that because healthy race teams provides better racing full stop. So, we’re excited about what that looks like.”

With 23XI and Front Row currently embroiled in an antitrust suit, Phelps declined to go into any further detail regarding those teams, citing the ongoing litigation.

“We are not going to talk about charters or answer any questions. We are in active litigation. And that matter is closed at this point.”

Deserving Championship Contenders

After the checkered flag flew on last Sunday’s race at Martinsville, the Championship 4 was set, but there were some big names left on the outside looking in, namely Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, and Christopher Bell, all of which have statistical advantages over the four that made it in.

Phelps was quick to dismiss any naysayers that the four that did make it through (Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, and William Byron) and not being deserving of vying for a championship on Sunday.

“I’ve heard some words like, they’re not deserving, you’ve got the wrong driver or 2, 3, 4 drivers. What I would say is that all of our drivers knew the format and these drivers in all three national series competed and went to the highest level and they deserve to be here,” Phelps said.

“Just take the Cup race, right? You have a former champion who won to get in right as he did last year. You have a regular season champion who won to get in here, and you have a two-time Cup champion who won to get here. And then the young man who pointed his way through, William Byron, is an incredible talent.

“So, all four of these drivers deserve to be here. Full stop.”

Playoff Format Tweaks?

Phelps and O’Donnell went on to note that having some of the best drivers not in position to fight for a championship is nothing new, with the same occurring in other sports with the best teams not always making it to big game.

Both noted they are pleased with the current format that has been in place, and that the Playoffs are here to stay, but wouldn’t rule out any changes in the future should they be warranted.

“The format is the format,” Phelps said. “We are not the only sport where the best statistical team does not get to the Final Four or the Super Bowl or the World Series. So, the format, there was a huge emphasis put 10 years ago when the format was put into place about winning, right? Three of the four on Sunday, they won to get through.

“I go back to the format itself, I think creates incredible racing. So, if we are all gonna be honest and say, hey, how’s the racing been during the Playoffs in these nine weeks? I don’t think it’s been ever better. And I think part of that is due to the system itself. They raced their guts out. They did. Tyler Reddick two weeks ago, Ryan Blaney last week, Chase Elliot trying to get in, Larson trying to get in, racing their guts out. And I think it provides great, great racing for our race fans.”

“The format is one thing, right? But Playoffs, we’re not going to go away from Playoffs,” O’Donnell added.

“We read fans and everything, so we will as we always do, right? And Steve’s led us to this. We’ll absolutely look at what form the playoffs take in the off season. You always learn, like I said before, but Playoffs in and of itself, as Steve said, you cannot argue with the quality of racing that the Playoffs have delivered. You can talk about the format if we do some different things, but absolutely we’re gonna stick with it.”

Officiating Challenges

At a number of races this season, irregular officiating has been the dark cloud that has overshadowed some key moments. O’Donnell explained that NASCAR has some challenges in the way the sport itself is laid out and being spot on with their calls each and every week, but noted that he was proud of how officials have taken the criticism that comes with those missed calls when they occur.

He added that it is standard protocol for the sanctioning body to review things over the offseason and if need be, they will make any changes.

“I will say about our group, especially those officiating each and every weekend, there is no harder sport to officiate,” said O’Donnell. “We don’t have timeouts, we don’t wait during the action. Cars are going 200 miles an hour. You gotta make split second decisions. We don’t always get those right, but for the most part we do.

“And what I’m most proud of is we come, we speak to the media, we’re transparent on every single call that we make. And when there’s a challenge or when we can learn from something, we’re gonna do that. And we’re gonna make adjustments like we always have.

“I can tell you I’ve been here almost 30 years and every race you probably see something different. Then it’s our job to react to that and come up with a new rule or come up with a new policy that we’ve gotta go after it.”

International Expansion

Year after year, NASCAR has not been afraid of making bold moves with the schedule and the 2025 schedule is another example of that with the first Cup Series race outside of the United States in Mexico City next spring.

In addition to the series heading south of the border next season, Phelps noted that they are eyeing further expansion outside the confines of the United States should the right situation come about.

“We’re excited to go to Mexico City. As I said, I think we’re gonna have a packed house. We’re gonna see some great racing,” said Phelps. “Our intention is to stay there past next year. We kind of typically look at a three year deal and see how that works. And if it’s continuing to work, we go to year four or five or six or whatever that might be.

“Have we had discussions with folks in Canada? We have. Would I like to see us go to Canada? I would. I think schedule variation works and it’s proven that it works. It works from an attendance standpoint, it works from a rating standpoint and it’s not insignificant. It works from, you know, kind of a brand standpoint, what it means to be bold and innovative and do things differently and change things up that drive success.

“I think that’s what we’ve tried to do as a sport, is do those things and not just schedule innovation, but other things as well. So, I anticipate further expansion.”