Newly appointed NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell, who was previously the company’s President revealed what his agenda for the sport will be moving forward.

O’Donnell was announced as the new CEO alongside Ben Kennedy being promoted to Chief Operating Officer earlier this weekend. O’Donnell told NASCAR.com on Saturday, April 25, ““I think it would be a bit presumptuous of me to come in right away and say, ‘here’s the plan.'”

He continued, “What I’m going to do is go out and do a lot of listening, especially the first 90 days. We’ve got so many talented people in the industry — team owners, drivers, track, sponsors, even our own internal personnel that I want to go have some conversations with about what do they see and what are the opportunities?”

“I think the great news is, we’ve got an unbelievable foundation, right? We’ve got a great broadcast deal. We’ve got charters in place, a strong schedule. So all those nuts and bolts are there, and it’s really taking that and looking at how do we make NASCAR an absolute must-have sport in the future.”

Nevertheless, he noted there is room for improvement, “There’s certainly things we can always improve on, but for me, I look at this season as the start of that foundation, of kind of that next generation of NASCAR, and that foundation is really solid.” 

“So I think it gives us the opportunity right now to go talk about the future. From time to time, we get stuck in kind of the day to day, and I think we all recognize right now that we have a really good thing that we can build on, but let’s talk about what does it look like five years from now and make those changes, because it’s going to take time. We’re going to need everyone to be aligned, and so now’s the time to say, all right, we’ve got a good thing going here in the first quarter. Let’s get through this year, let’s not take anything for granted, but let’s really think about where we want to be in 2030 and beyond.”

O’Donnell echoed those points ahead of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup series race at Talladega Superspeedway when he was asked what his first big move would be, “First big move? I think do a lot of listening. We’ve got a lot of great people in this industry with a lot of different opinions, a lot of experience. Kevin [Harvick’s] one of those guys. So going out and listening to people about, ‘What would you say if were not in the room? And what do we got to do as a sport?’ We’ve got an incredibly bright future ahead of us and I think putting some of those ideas together and let’s go.”

Later in the interview, Harvick pressed him on what are the top couple of things on the agenda. O’Donnell replied, “You look at where we are today and we tend to be day-to-day or just staying within the year and we don’t think about where we going to be 2031. And so for us, Ben and I, going out and talking to people is not just about today, but aligning them where this sport should be 2030, 2031. Where does Fox want to be? Where do fans want to see us race? And really having that big picture. So if I ask you, Rick Hendrick, anybody in the industry they’re all saying kind of the same thing, and they’re all singing from the same hymn book.”

“So that’s the goal: Talk to people, align on the goals, and then we’re all in,” he declared.

O’Donnell then emphasized how important communication will be, “That’s the biggest thing. We won’t always agree, but at least having a conversation of ‘Why are you guys going in this direction?’ And the biggest thing is getting people to believe that everybody in this industry is part of NASCAR. It’s not just the guys down in Daytona making decisions. Everybody’s got to be aligned on where we’re going. And I think we’ve got the foundation to do that.” 

New NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell and COO @BenKennedy33 join @KevinHarvick and @The_ChrisMyers to talk about the sport’s goals and future. pic.twitter.com/z0ArtYDPAS

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 26, 2026

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