{"id":629865,"date":"2026-04-26T13:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T13:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/629865\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T13:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T13:25:10","slug":"drivers-say-nascar-ceo-transition-brings-clarity-not-disruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/629865\/","title":{"rendered":"Drivers Say NASCAR CEO Transition Brings Clarity Not Disruption"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASCAR has a new CEO and COO. It was big news revealed Saturday, made bigger by the fact that although he started in NASCAR in 1996 Steve O\u2019Donnell has no ties to the France family, marking the first time in the sport\u2019s history that a member from outside the family will be running the show.<\/p>\n

And while it may be big news outside the sport, the reality inside the sport is that this wasn\u2019t a takeover. It was a confirmation. <\/p>\n

Teams and drivers were briefed a day earlier via a teleconference led by O\u2019Donnell, the new COO Ben Kennedy, and Lesa France Kennedy. The reaction was less shock and more quiet acknowledgment. From where the industry sits, the people now holding the titles have already been holding the reins.<\/p>\n

Team Penske driver Austin Cindric hovers between a new guy, and a veteran. He was listening in on the call and came away with a pragmatic takeaway.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, for me, does that change my day-to-day? Probably not directly right away,\u201d he said Saturday. \u201cBut, otherwise, from just afar it definitely makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brad Keselowski is not only a veteran driver, but a team owner. And to him the shift feels more like a formality than a revolution.<\/p>\n

\"auto:Icon Sports Wire\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Brad Keselowski: I don\u2019t know if I see it as a massive change… I feel like Steve O\u2019Donnell has kind of been running a big part of the show for a while now<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if I see it as a massive change,\u201d Keselowski said. \u201cI feel like Steve O\u2019Donnell has kind of been running a big part of the show for a while now, but just probably more official is kind of how I feel about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That sense of inevitability extends to the departure of Jim France from the CEO role. When France stepped in back in 2018, it was widely viewed as a steadying move rather than a long-term appointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like when Jim came in circa \u201818, \u201819, I think we all knew that was kind of like, \u2018Hey, this is the right guy and the right time to take NASCAR to the next level.\u2019\u201d He said. \u201cAnd I feel like he did a lot of things that he\u2019ll probably not get credit for. The last year was obviously very tough with things that were going on in the sport and lawsuits and beyond, but I think everyone pretty much knew that was not going to be a 20-30 year run. \u201c<\/p>\n

If there is a tangible shift, Keselowski points to something less dramatic but far more important: clarity.<\/p>\n

MORE<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of positives to having role clarity,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been my business experience at least that having role clarity is so, so important when you\u2019re trying to pull an entity together. I sense that with that announcement that\u2019s what was achieved as much as anything, which I can really strongly get behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy\u2019s rise adds another layer to the transition. A great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., he also brings something rare to the executive suite: recent experience behind the wheel. He competed in the NASCAR Truck Series from 2013 to 2016, even picking up a win along the way.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not lost on Tyler Reddick, who raced against him during those years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it’s hard for me to say one or the other, and I think that’s what makes him great for the role,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember back to Truck days, we were battling, week in and week out. He’s done a really good job; with the positions he’s held.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"nascarSean Gardner\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ben Kennedy competed in the NASCAR Truck Series from 2013 to 2016, even picking up a win along the way.<\/p>\n

So while the org chart has changed, the people behind it have not suddenly appeared. O\u2019Donnell and Kennedy have been central figures in NASCAR\u2019s recent evolution, not spectators waiting for a promotion.<\/p>\n

Which is why, across the garage, the prevailing mood isn\u2019t uncertainty, it\u2019s a quiet continuity.<\/p>\n

\u201cit definitely makes sense,\u201d Cindric said. \u201cObviously, there\u2019s a lot of experience from those ends for those moving up into new roles, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to impact anything directly right away, just curious to see where everyone takes it from here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reddick, meanwhile, sees even less reason to wait and wonder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m excited about what the future looks like,\u201d he said. \u201cSteve’s (O\u2019Donnell) been committed to the sport for a very long time, been a part of it in a lot of ways. Yeah, I’m excited about the future. I think the future is bright for NASCAR.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big news, sure. Just not a big surprise.<\/p>\n

\"Lettermark\"<\/p>\n

I have been around and written about the sport of NASCAR for over three decades and previously worked fulltime for the Sporting News and \u00a0Scripps-Howard News Service. \u00a0I am also a contributor to two Chicken Soup \u00a0for the Soul books including the NASCAR edition, published in 2010 and \u00a0the author of \u201cThe Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers’ \u00a0Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing.\u201d I am a multiple National \u00a0Motorsports Press Association award winner. Early in life I spent 23 \u00a0years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that \u00a0in and around the Special Operations community serving in support of \u00a0Operation Just Cause, Desert Shield\/Storm and ended my military career \u00a0in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASCAR has a new CEO and COO. It was big news revealed Saturday, made bigger by the fact…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82,123756],"class_list":{"0":"post-629865","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-steve-o"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629865","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=629865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}