NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell said he wants to see the sport become a “must-have sport” for broadcasters, whereas right now “we’re a nice-to-have sport.” O’Donnell, joining “Racin’ With The Boys,” said he wants NASCAR to be at a point where networks or digital streamers believe they “better have NASCAR because that’s where eyeballs are going to be.” He noted attendance and branding being up but the “biggest thing” for the league is “seeing young people.” O’Donnell: “And now with Amazon, Fox, everybody, we’re seeing that younger demo grow. … Now we got to keep them. … How do we keep them going and keep them interested?” O’Donnell added NASCAR is “a cool sport … a badass American sport.” He said he wants to see improved communication with drivers to “show them what could be.” O’Donnell: “Let’s take the momentum and let’s work together to grow. The fans are there. The fans want us to succeed and we just got to get out of our own way sometimes and deliver a great product.” He mentioned they have to “be proud of who we are” after “trying to be somebody we’re not and got us in trouble.” He noted everybody is “rallied around” the sport, and NASCAR has a big opportunity in the next three to four years “to kind of come together” (“Racin’ With The Boys,” 8/6).
