NASCAR Chief Steve O’Donnell has been standing in the eye of the storm for months on end, with no relief in sight. He has had to face fan backlash around the poor state of racing for much of the 2025 season, and when the playoffs began, the backlash grew multifold.

Away from the on-track difficulties, the NASCAR Chief has been involved in an antitrust lawsuit, which hasn’t been going well for the sport’s governing body.

And while that goes on, NASCAR’s Managing Director of Racing Communications, Mike Forde, has just shed light on a nightmare scenario for the Chief, bringing the spotlight back to the playoff format.

NASCAR Chief Realizes That a Change Is Needed Before the Talent Pool Drains

The 2025 NASCAR playoffs brought heartbreak for two of the season’s top title favorites. While Corey Heim celebrated a Truck Series championship, things unraveled for Connor Zilisch in Xfinity and Denny Hamlin in Cup. Both fell short in their respective finales, Hamlin even hinting at retirement afterward, while Zilisch appears to have moved on, preparing to join Trackhouse Racing as Daniel Suárez’s replacement.

Still, writer Pat Forde suggests that NASCAR executive Steve O’Donnell may be worried about losing future young stars like Zilisch, given how the season concluded.

Speaking on the Hauler Talk podcast recently, Forde revealed the worst nightmare of the NASCAR Chief, one that could cause a mass exodus of talent from the sport, especially with the younger generation.

He feels that the newer drivers might reassess their situation and opt to drive in another sport, given they would reward results and consistency over one race luck.

Per Forde, “O’Donell is really good at looking into the future and I think one of the things that keeps him up at night is a Connor Zilisch type, whoever the 12-year-old wunderkind out there now, looks at the championship format at NASCAR and says, ‘You know what, I don’t like the fact that I can win 10 races like Connor did, and not win the championship. Let me look at F1, let me look at IndyCar, let me look at this other — I have this driving talent that can translate into other forms of racing.”

He added that a young driver might think, “I’m going to move to this because I feel like this championship format is a little more legitimate, and I’m not going to go to NASCAR.’ That is his nightmare scenario.”

Looking at the numbers, no one stood even remotely close to Zilisch in the Xfinity Series. The 19-year-old JRM driver broke one record after another, as he racked up 18 consecutive top-five finishes to his name.

With 10 wins in the season, despite two injuries, Zilisch went into the title-decider as the favorite. However, when the checkered flag fell, it was Jesse Love, who happens to be Zilisch’s best friend, who ended up taking home the championship trophy. To put things in perspective, it was only Love’s second race win of the season, but it was still enough to earn him the championship.

As such, it is high time for NASCAR to shuffle things up before the younger drivers start searching for alternatives.