{"id":628188,"date":"2026-04-25T17:53:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T17:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/628188\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T17:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T17:53:10","slug":"jim-france-steps-down-as-nascar-ceo-odonnell-takes-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/628188\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim France Steps Down as NASCAR CEO, O’Donnell Takes Over"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, during NASCAR\u2019s marquee Talladega weekend, NASCAR announced major changes to its leadership suite with Steve O\u2019Donnell taking over as Chief Executive Officer as Jim France leaves the post after eight years at the helm of the family business. France will stay on as Chairman of the board.<\/p>\n

These internal changes follow the shakeup and fallout of December’s very public two-week federal antitrust case.<\/p>\n

Jim France took over as CEO from his nephew, Brian France, following Brian’s DWI charge in the summer of 2018. <\/p>\n

Ben Kennedy, the great-grandson of Bill France Sr., moves to the Chief Operating Officer role, keeping a member of the France family near the top of the structural pyramid.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donnell becomes the first non-France family member to serve as CEO in NASCAR\u2019s 78-year history. He recently celebrated 30 years with NASCAR.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donnell will oversee the \u201cstrategic and operational leadership for NASCAR, its affiliated racing series and businesses\u201d, as per NASCAR\u2019s press release. <\/p>\n

Kennedy was serving as Chief Events & Venues Officer before his elevation to O\u2019Donnell\u2019s former post. In this role, Kennedy brought about some of the most exciting new events to the NASCAR schedule, including the NASCAR\u2019s push into city centers with the Busch Light Clash at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum<\/a>, the inaugural Chicago Street Race<\/a>, Mexico City, and this year\u2019s upcoming San Diego Street Race<\/a> at Naval Base Coronado. Kennedy will continue to be in charge of creating the NASCAR annual schedule, a role he\u2019s filled since 2021.
<\/p>\n

Kennedy (34), as COO, will oversee “several core business functions, including the addition of NASCAR\u2019s competition department, alongside his current leadership of track and event operations, racing innovation, hospitality, and venue strategy.”<\/p>\n

“I am incredibly proud of the strength and stability we\u2019ve achieved across the sport, which gives me tremendous confidence in our plan to transition leadership to Steve as NASCAR\u2019s next CEO and Ben as COO,” said NASCAR Chairman Jim France. “Together, they represent the future of the sport, and along with our world-class executive team and race team partners in the garage, they will guide NASCAR into its exciting next era.”<\/p>\n

Jim France stays on the board as chairman, with his niece and Kennedy\u2019s mother, Lesa France Kennedy, continuing on as executive vice chair.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donnell was not immune to the criticism that exploded following the antitrust suit, with him and Steve Phelps heavily implicated in systematic issues around communication with teams and key stakeholders. <\/p>\n

Phelps was the sacrificial lamb, and O\u2019Donnell was left to clean up the mess in the educational suites.<\/p>\n

France stepping down comes after a public push for change at the organization, which has operated as a one-family business for its 78-year history.<\/p>\n

“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,” said NASCAR Chief Executive Officer Steve O\u2019Donnell. “I have devoted nearly my entire l career to NASCAR, this garage and our fans, guided by the France family\u2019s 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.”<\/p>\n

Related Stories\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Victoria Beaver is a nomadic sports writer who spends her time hopping between race tracks and hippie farms. She\u2019s covered every corner of motorsports that will let her in from 410 Sprints to NASCAR to Supercross. Her daily driver is a 2010 Subaru that she refused to do the smallest amount of preventative maintenance on. Instead, she spends her free time and money building a 42-foot Skoolie to one day travel the country full time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Saturday, during NASCAR\u2019s marquee Talladega weekend, NASCAR announced major changes to its leadership suite with Steve O\u2019Donnell…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,183855,782,235419,784,1642,634,235418,235417,82],"class_list":["post-628188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-collection-motorsport","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-94f4c8a7-e45e-49da-a437-7d734aab7417","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-locale-us","tag-nascar","tag-odonnell-takes-over","tag-shorttitle-jim-france-steps-down-as-nascar-ceo","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}