NASCAR’s New CEO Signals A Power Shift That Had Already Happened

At 81, Jim France has always cut a quieter figure. Not a headline chaser. Not a podium pounder. In fact, during his tenure, he never formally met with the media, skipping the annual “state of the sport” addresses that had once been standard fare under Brian France. Those duties increasingly fell to others, most notably O’Donnell.

That arrangement worked well enough. Until it didn’t.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 15: NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France attends his Chairman’s Breakfast prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2026 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

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The NASCAR lawsuit late last year pulled back the curtain in a way the sport rarely allows. France was called to testify, and the image presented wasn’t exactly one of commanding authority. Questions had to be repeated. Details were hazy. At one point, he couldn’t recall his own compensation. What the public saw was less a corporate heavyweight and more a soft-spoken grandfather who sometimes couldn’t remember what he had for lunch and who looked like he’d be far more comfortable in a rocking chair than a boardroom.

Behind the scenes, of course, the sport wasn’t drifting aimlessly. The real operational muscle had long been split between O’Donnell, former NASCAR President Steve Phelps, and Ben Kennedy—the 34-year-old great-grandson of Bill France Sr. Phelps, who had been named NASCAR’s first commissioner in March 2025, exited earlier this year following the fallout from text messages revealed during the same legal proceedings.

In stepping aside, Saturday France made clear what he feels he’s leaving behind. “I believe we have the finest team of people working and running NASCAR that we’ve ever had in our entire history,” he said. It’s a line that says as much about his leadership style as it does about his exit, less about commanding the room, more about trusting the people in it.

Kennedy, meanwhile, has continued his steady climb. From Truck Series driver to executive, he has worked his way through NASCAR’s ranks; racing development, strategic initiatives, and most recently as senior vice president of strategy and innovation, before landing in the COO role. It’s been less a meteoric rise and more a carefully plotted ascent.

And if there was any doubt about who had been steering during the most critical moments, Jim France provided the answer himself. Reflecting on the early days of the pandemic, he pointed squarely at his successors. “Steve and Ben went to work… and got us back to the racetrack, led the way for a lot of major sports getting back in business,” he said.

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - 1947: NASCAR's early leaders meet in the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach. Seated (L-R): Bob Richards, Freddie Horton, Jack Peters, Ed Bruce, Chick DiNatale, Harvey Tattersall Jr., Tom Galan, Alvin Hawkins, Bill Tuthill, Bill France Sr., Mildred Ayres, Joe Littlejohn, Jimmy Cox, Eddie Bland, Joe Ross, Sam Packard, Bill Streeter, Lucky Sauer. Standing (L-R): Larry Roller, Fred Dagavar, Bob Osiecki, Jimmy Quisenberry, Ed Samples, Marshall Teague. (Photo by ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images)

ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images

O'Donnell and Kennedy have been sort of a power couple in NASCAR for several years.

After Brian Francis tumultuous reign ended, NASCAR seemed to become less like a huge cruise ship that only turned directions slowly and with O'Donnell and Kennedy working behind the scenes more like a speedboat they could turn on a dime. The two helped guide the sport during COVID shutdowns, taking it to places almost unimaginable just a few years before. New tracks on the schedule, new venues to race it and even new countries. The old boundaries started to look more like suggestions.

And now that power couple is no longer working behind the curtain. They’re center stage.

And they sound exactly like you’d expect from the people who’ve already been doing the job. “We’re going to make some moves, and we’re going to have some fun,” O’Donnell said. It’s not exactly a corporate buzzword salad, and that’s the point. There’s an urgency there, but also a recognition that the sport had, at times, forgotten to enjoy itself.

DETROIT, MI - AUGUST 15: Ben Kennedy NASCARs managing director of racing operations and international development unveil the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Mustang on August 15, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images)

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There’s also a clear philosophical shift toward speed, of decision-making, if not the cars themselves. “You can’t take months and months to make a decision… you’ve got to be quick, but you’ve got to be smart about it,” O’Donnell added, describing a mindset that mirrors the very changes NASCAR has already been making.

The question now becomes: for how long? Yes, O’Donnell has been with the sport since 1996, so this is both a culmination and, potentially, a transition. But is he the long-term architect of the sport’s next era, or the steady hand keeping the seat warm until Kennedy, young, connected, and very much part of the France lineage, is ready to take the final step?

Or, and this is entirely possible, has this pairing become so effective, so in sync, that NASCAR has quietly stumbled into a leadership structure that could last far longer than anyone expects?

Kennedy, unsurprisingly, isn’t tipping his hand. “I look forward to working alongside him… and seeing some more success,” he said of O’Donnell, offering praise without prediction, and leaving the long-term picture just ambiguous enough to keep everyone guessing.

And what about the fans, and the rest of the industry, what could all this mean for them? Truthfully, probably very little. The trajectory NASCAR has been on, more experimental, more willing to take risks, more open to unconventional venues and ideas, was already being shaped by the very people now at the top. As O’Donnell put it, “we’re not starting from scratch… we’re close to 80 years of building a foundation.”

The speedboat, as it turns out, left the dock some time ago. Now it just has a new name on the captain’s chair.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com