More than one of the biggest racing forms in the world, NASCAR is a family business that was started by Bill France back in 1948. Since that time there has always been a member of the France family at the head of NASCAR…until now.
Current Chairman and CEO Jim France is stepping away from his duties as CEO but will stay on as NASCAR’S Chairman.
Current President Steve O’Donnell is being named as the new Chief Executive Office – the first non-France family member to hold the post – with Ben Kennedy as Chief Operating Officer.
O’Donnell spoke on his new position from the NASCAR Hauler at Talladega Superspeedway saying, “I think it would be a bit presumptuous of me to come in right away and say, ‘here’s the plan’. What I am going to do is go out and do a lot of listening, especially the first 90 days. We’ve got so many talented people in the industry — team owners, drivers, track, sponsors, even our own internal personnel that I want to go have some conversations with about what do they see and what are the opportunities? I think the great news is, we’ve got an unbelievable foundation, right? We’ve got a great broadcast deal. We’ve got charters in place, a strong schedule. So all those nuts and bolts are there, and it’s really taking that and looking at how do we make NASCAR an absolute must-have sport in the future.”
O’Donnell adds that he hopes for “getting a little bit more fun back in the sport” — a feeling that he hopes trickles down from drivers to fans.
O’Donnell notes, “there’s certainly things we can always improve on, but for me, I look at this season as the start of that foundation, of kind of that next generation of NASCAR, and that foundation is really solid. So I think it gives us the opportunity right now to go talk about the future. From time to time, we get stuck in kind of the day to day, and I think we all recognize right now that we have a really good thing that we can build on, but let’s talk about what does it look like five years from now and make those changes, because it’s going to take time. We’re going to need everyone to be aligned, and so now’s the time to say, all right, we’ve got a good thing going here in the first quarter. Let’s get through this year, let’s not take anything for granted, but let’s really think about where we want to be in 2030 and beyond.”
Jim France took over as Chairman and CEO in 2018 and has since had plenty to wade through as the head of NASCAR including the Covid pandemic, a new blockbuster media rights deal, an anti-trust lawsuit, a new charter system, and expanding the sport.
Speaking on the 81-year-old Jim France, Steve O’Donnell said, “Jim came in at a time when this sport really needed it and I can speak for myself on the competition side that we were struggling a little bit in terms of having someone who understood that aspect of the sport, could be a voice to help maybe back up some of the things we wanted to do, and Jim was just credibility right away. When he came in and spent the time at the track, he was always there and had conversations. He would certainly challenge you on certain decisions you made, but incredibly supportive of everything we did, and I think his goal coming in was to get the right people in place, get a great television partnership in place, get through the charters, and then really have the people to see the sport continue to grow.”
O’Donnell added, “he’s still going to be involved, obviously, but for me, personally, he’s a guy who behind the scenes always listens, but always knew what was going on and does not get nearly enough credit for everything he puts into the sport.”
On France’s stepping away from some of his duties O’Donnell said, “I think when you look at it, it was more always the plan of, ‘Here’s what he wanted to get accomplished,’ and part of that was also, do we have the leadership team that can continue to bring us to where he saw things going. Ben’s really stepped up as well, and I think he looked at this and said hey, now’s a good time for me to continue to be part of the sport, but also spend time with my family, and also be involved in the sport and IMSA and everything else. He’s got a ton of interest, but I think it was just perfect timing across the board for us.”
Speaking on Ben Kennedy and his new role O’Donnell said, “I think when you look at Ben, he’s done everything. He’s grown up in the sport, he’s driven, he owns race teams, he’s worked at tracks, but when he first started working for us, worked with me in competition and we put him in charge of the Truck Series, and I think anyone wondered, like, how’s he going to do? And we said one of the biggest challenges we have is the relationship with owners, and we need to go out and talk to them. In three days, he had talked to every single truck owner, had a plan, and it told me right away that this guy’s all-in, and he cares, and he has great style, and he’s continued to do that.”
Calling it “incredibly humbling”, Steve O’Donnell spoke on his new role saying, “it’s something that I want to make sure that this sport is left in a better place than when I started, and the work is certainly not done. I think we’ve got a huge opportunity to build upon the foundation.”