Steve O'Donnell will officially succeed Jim France as CEO of NASCAR, becoming the first non-France family CEO in the sport's history 1948 inception.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Steve O'Donnell will officially succeed Jim France as CEO of NASCAR, becoming the first non-France family CEO in the sport's history 1948 inception.
O'Donnell is succeeding Jim France in the chief executive role with NASCAR, taking over a position held by the France family since the motorsport's inception.
As CEO, O’Donnell will focus on advancing NASCAR’s vision as one of the world’s premier sports and entertainment brands, according to NASCAR.
“It is an honor to step into the role of CEO working alongside Ben and our leadership team at such an important time for our sport,” O’Donnell said. “I have devoted nearly my entire l career to NASCAR, this garage and our fans, guided by the France family’s commitment to deliver the best racing in the world. I am grateful and energized to continue to collaborate with our colleagues across our sport, while listening to our race fans to realize that vision each and every week.”
Jim France, the son of founder Bill France and brother of longtime NASCAR boss Bill France Jr., will remain as the chairman of the board of directors. The board will remain unchanged.
Ben Kennedy, the grandson of Bill France Jr., will move into the role of chief operating officer of NASCAR under O'Donnell.
In his expanded role, Kennedy will oversee several core business functions, including the addition of NASCAR’s competition department, as well as his current leadership of track and event operations, racing innovation, hospitality and venue strategy.
The moves indicate a shift in future leadership for the sport. While O'Donnell has been a mainstay from the Brian France era, he has emerged as a figure of NASCAR's "Hell Yeah!", back to basics era that they've tried to kickstart in 2026 with the Chase replacing the win-and-you're-in playoffs and higher horsepower at some tracks.
So far, the era has been off to an interesting start.
Giving 15 more points to the winner of a race this year has rewarded five-time winner Tyler Reddick perfectly, giving him a 105-point lead after just nine races. Higher horsepower has also delivered better racing at Phoenix, Darlington and Bristol.
However, NASCAR is still living in the shadow of the era they're trying to get away from.
Leading up to the 23XI/FRM lawsuit, there was a push to get more TV money and for teams to get a bigger cut of that money with the 2025 deal. While the deal gave them that, it came at the expense of the partners putting almost a majority of the Cup races on cable -- a medium that has been in steady decline over the last decade.
Through the first quarter of the season, Tyler Reddick has won more Cup points races (five) than there have been Cup points races broadcast on over-the-air TV (four).
In its second year with this deal, viewership has also been down 3% year-over-year consistently each weekend, like Bristol where the Cup race drew under 2 million people and was ahead of the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series by less than a million viewers.
Meanwhile, NOAPS ratings have consistently increased with races on OTA TV (CW) and a marketing powerhouse propelling them to at least 1 million viewers each week.
These factors have reportedly spurred discussions internally, looking ahead to 2031 when the the current Cup TV deal will expire.
NASCAR, like other sports sanctioning bodies, is also finding themselves in an interesting position to wheel and deal its way in a quickly-evolving media landscape.
Shareholders of Warner Bros., the company behind the TNT/HBO Max portion of the Cup schedule, recently approved a merger with Skydance Paramount. The merger opens the door for more Cup races to potentially end up on CBS and possibly give NASCAR more of a presence on OTA TV, in lieu of NBC Sports only signing on for five Cup races on OTA and giving their portion of the season to USA Sports/Versant.
The sport is in need of some innovative ideas to capture a younger audience and grow in a way that Formula 1 and, to a lesser extent, INDYCAR have in recent years. With a young innovator Ben Kennedy sharpening his craft under an experienced wheeler-and-dealer-and-talker like Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR is setting themselves up to thrive and be lock-in-step with the teams in a world that is evolving quicker and quicker.