TALLADEGA, Ala. — NASCAR Chairman Jim France officially passed the torch to CEO Steve O'Donnell on Saturday afternoon, but O'Donnell did not simply say, "Thank you" and move on with his day.
Videos by FanBuzz
He let everyone know that he is on a mission to unite the industry while strengthening its spot in the sports landscape. But he's also not going to take this job for granted.
"The biggest thing, I think, is twofold, is we're going to make some moves, and we're going to have some fun," O'Donnell said Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway. "I think we lost that over the last couple years.
"And it is an unbelievable privilege to be in this position. My wife reminded me today that people would kill to be doing what you're doing, and that's not lost on me. And it's a privilege to do it, but it's also fun what we get to do each and every day."
#NASCAR Chairman Jim France gives his remarks about passing the CEO torch to Steve O'Donnell. pic.twitter.com/YTmjIU4hMS
— John Newby (@JohnNewby_) April 25, 2026
So how exactly will O'Donnell approach this task? For starters, he will go back to the foundation that those before him built. After all, they have almost 80 years to look at while moving with "urgency" and addressing some of the pressing issues in the sport.
"We're going to be listening, and that means genuinely listening before making any decisions," O'Donnell said. "So I know there'll be a lot of questions. 'Where are you going? What are you doing?'
"But I think it's important for us to go out there and spend the time listening to everyone in this industry — team owners, team principals, drivers, tracks, manufacturers, OEMs, and probably most importantly for us too, all the talented employees we have at NASCAR.
"Not just the leadership team, but those who are out selling the tickets, those who are out interacting with the fans, and can tell you what's really happening and where we need the sport to go."
O'Donnell has a timeline in place. He specifically mentioned five years down the road as a benchmark. His goal is to have the sport firing on all cylinders as everyone works together.
If NASCAR can achieve this, he believes the sport will be a must-have product for media partners while drivers will be crossover superstars outside of racing.
Of course, the fans will play a major role in this outcome. O'Donnell wants them to feel like this is their sport once again. He acknowledges that the last few years have been a little tough as NASCAR "chased some things that may not have worked," but he pointed to the Hell Yeah campaign and the return of The Chase as steps in the right direction.
Another important move was increasing the horsepower at certain tracks. The team has other levers that they can pull moving forward, but these remain to be determined as the industry stakeholders work together and put plans in place.
"Our fans are the best salespeople in the sports world, right," he said. "They love NASCAR. If we can get anyone here in the infield of Talladega, they're going to be coming back.
"And so that's the goal, is showcase to everyone what we all love about this sport."
