HOMESTEAD, Fla. — NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell has detailed the five pillars of the plan to further grow the sport of stock car racing.
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O'Donnell spoke about his five-year plan, the first for the industry that he can remember, during the annual State of the Sport address on Friday.
This marked his first time leading this media session after taking over for the departed Steve Phelps, and it provided an opportunity to explain how NASCAR can take its existing momentum and build upon it to truly grow.
"The work has begun. The stakeholders, and every stakeholder in our industry has helped create what I would call a blueprint of where we want to go in the future," O'Donnell said during his State of the Sport on Friday.
"It's going to really touch on five different pillars. One of those is competition. We're going to talk about audience growth and engagement. Schedule and media strategy, international, and then our at-track fan development.
"The goal with all of those is simple. It's make NASCAR better. That means a healthy ecosystem for all industry stakeholders."
Obviously, continuing to improve the Gen 7 car is a major piece of this five-year plan. O'Donnell downplayed the possibility of a Gen 8 making its way into the sport in the near future, so continuing to improve the existing Cup Series car will be a priority.
The schedule is also important. Adding new tracks and reaching new areas of the globe are important for building the fanbase, but O'Donnell also doesn't want to leave the longtime fans behind.
Can the sport go to the Northwest, other areas of the Northeast, or more international markets? It absolutely can, but NASCAR has to find the best way to achieve this.
The fan development pillar does not solely focus on the at-track experience. Yes, this is an important part of the deal, considering that NASCAR wants to continue boosting those attendance numbers.
But O'Donnell also wants to reach the potential fans who aren't yet attending races. This can be through YouTube clips, video games, or other projects. This includes the upcoming Thunder Road dramatic series or the Days of Thunder sequel.
"The goal at NASCAR is ultimately create as many avenues as possible to bring fans into the sport," O'Donnell said. "That will hopefully lead to someone saying, 'Hey, I want to get to a race.'
"What do we hope happens from there? They embrace a driver. True success is that race fan has embraced a driver and developed so much passion that they have absolute disdain for three or four other drivers out on the track."
The international pillar is multi-faceted. Taking the national series to other countries falls under this umbrella, as does expanding the number of countries in which the sport airs. This year, that number reached more than 185 countries in 25 languages.
But NASCAR also wants to continue growing its other series, such as the one that brought Daniel Suarez to the United States. Opportunity for growth still exists based on the popularity of the existing international series.
NASCAR already has multiple sanctioned series competing in Canada, Europe, Mexico, and Brazil.
These series have enjoyed significant growth, to the point that the European Series events had record-breaking attendance this year. O'Donnell specifically said that 44,000 people showed up in Czechia.
Will NASCAR make major gains in 2027 while focusing on these five pillars? It's certainly possible, but the thing to remember is that this is a five-year plan. Incremental progress is something that NASCAR could expect to make.
"Our fans should be able to see the difference in the future," O'Donnell said. "Is the sport easier to follow? Are we giving people more reasons to watch? Are we culturally relevant?
"We need to do this all while protecting what people have loved about the sport. So it's grow the sport and really reengage with those who have been a fan for years and fears."
