{"id":57495,"date":"2026-04-25T16:50:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T21:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=57495"},"modified":"2026-04-29T12:05:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T17:05:42","slug":"nascar-names-steve-odonnell-new-ceo-ben-kennedy-coo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/25\/nascar-names-steve-odonnell-new-ceo-ben-kennedy-coo\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR names Steve O’Donnell new CEO; Ben Kennedy COO"},"content":{"rendered":"
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TALLADEGA, ALABAMA – APRIL 25: Steve O\u2019Donnell, NASCAR Chief Executive Officer speaks to the media after the NASCAR leadership announcements during a press conference at Talladega Superspeedway on April 25, 2026 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

TALLADEGA, Ala. \u2013 Noting its always-evolving emphasis on growth and innovation, NASCAR announced Saturday major changes to its leadership structure naming Steve O\u2019Donnell as the sport\u2019s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Ben Kennedy as the Chief Operating Officer (COO), effective immediately.<\/p>\n

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TALLADEGA, ALABAMA – APRIL 25: Steve O\u2019Donnell, NASCAR Chief Executive Officer (L) and Ben Kennedy, NASCAR Chief Operating Officer speak to the media after the NASCAR leadership announcements during a press conference at Talladega Superspeedway on April 25, 2026 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The New Jersey-native O\u2019Donnell, 57, is now the first non-France family member to hold the position of CEO in the 78-year history of the sport and assumes the role from NASCAR Chairman Jim France, who has served as CEO since August, 2018. France will remain NASCAR\u2019s Chairman of the Board of Directors. Lesa France Kennedy will remain Executive Vice Chair and the NASCAR Board of Directors remains unchanged as well.<\/p>\n

After serving as a longtime member of NASCAR\u2019s executive team – a 30-year tenure in the sport – O\u2019Donnell now assumes \u201call strategic and operational leadership for NASCAR, its affiliated racing series and businesses.\u201d He had previously served as the sport\u2019s COO and was named NASCAR president in March, 2025.<\/p>\n

Kennedy, 34, a fourth-generation member of NASCAR\u2019s founding France family, will now lead NASCAR\u2019s competition department in addition to his longtime role overseeing \u201ctrack and event operations, racing innovation, hospitality and venue strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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TALLADEGA, ALABAMA – APRIL 25: Ben Kennedy, NASCAR Chief Operating Officer speaks to the media after the NASCAR leadership announcements during a press conference at Talladega Superspeedway on April 25, 2026 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

After coming to the microphone to thank NASCAR employees for their work and forward progress during his tenure, saying he believed, \u201cwe have the finest team of people working and running NASCAR that we’ve ever had in our entire history.<\/p>\n

Moments later France turned and motioned to O\u2019Donnell, \u201cSo Steve, you\u2019ve got the wheel, partner.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d France said in announcing the new roles.<\/p>\n

\u201cTogether, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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TALLADEGA, ALABAMA – APRIL 25: NASCAR Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR Chief Executive Officer, (L) and Jim France, NASCAR Chairman shake hands after the NASCAR leadership announcements during a press conference at Talladega Superspeedway on April 25, 2026 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

O\u2019Donnell certainly brings a wide-reaching resume to his latest leadership role having worked in the sport\u2019s competition, operations and marketing departments \u201cfrom grassroots racing through the NASCAR Cup Series.\u2019\u2019 In his new role, O\u2019Donnell will continue to lead strategic plans in succession and NASCAR\u2019s next media rights and content distribution deals.<\/p>\n

He spoke Saturday about creating a renewed, unified direction<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we’re at our best as a sport, the teams, the tracks, manufacturers, television partners, OEMs, drivers, we’re all working together and we’re aligned to make each other better,\u2019\u2019 O\u2019Donnell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first goal that we’ve got is to really unite our industry. I want to create a culture where there’s collaboration, a genuine collaboration, where everybody wins.<\/p>\n

“The great news I think for us is we’re not starting from scratch. We’re close to 80 years of building a foundation. We’ve got racing series, not just Cup, but a portfolio of racing series that’s unrivaled in all of motorsports.\u201d<\/p>\n

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TALLADEGA, ALABAMA – APRIL 25: Jim France, NASCAR Chairman speaks to the media after the NASCAR leadership announcements during a press conference at Talladega Superspeedway on April 25, 2026 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

For Kennedy, the increased leadership role seems like a very natural evolution. He has served in multiple positions within the sport and been responsible for several major successful innovations. He will now oversee a wider range of \u201cbusiness and competition-critical functions\u201d including the Competition department. He will continue in his role overseeing the compilation of the sport\u2019s schedule, including the addition of new marquee events such as this summer\u2019s Freeway Insurance 500 street race at San Diego\u2019s Naval Base Coronado.<\/p>\n

Addressing the room, Kennedy immediately thanked his uncle France and mom, Lesa France Kennedy for the longtime work they have done leading the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think about everything this sport has accomplished over the last several years, going to new locations from a schedule perspective, all the work that [Executive Vice President] John Probst and the team have done on the competition side, bringing new cars, thinking about our race portfolio, what the future that is going to bring to the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve really enjoyed working with the events and venues team. I think it’s neat to be able to somewhat follow in my mom’s [France Kennedy] footsteps. She was always on the track side of the business, working with International Speedway Corporation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a great group of people that are second to none in this industry,\u2019\u2019 Kennedy continued. \u201cI think it’s rare that you find people that are truly passionate and care about this sport. We have a lot of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook forward to the new challenge, rolling up our sleeves and getting back to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

As official word of the new leadership became public Saturday, drivers and teams responded with positive feedback.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great for him, obviously he\u2019s been dedicated to the sport for a long time so for him to be able to step aside and allow Steve O\u2019Donnell and Ben [Kennedy] to fill those roles and bring in new management I feel like was going to happen at some point,\u2019\u2019 Spire Motorsports veteran driver Michael McDowell said shortly after the news came out.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly I don\u2019t think it changes a whole lot because we were already there a little bit, feel like new titles but I feel comfortable with where the sport\u2019s at and where we\u2019re headed.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The ambiance was unmistakable \u2013 the press conference room inside Talladega Superspeedway was filled with track presidents, NASCAR employees, industry insiders and team members all curious and optimistic about the sport\u2019s new direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cNASCAR has always been an American original,\u2019\u2019 O\u2019Donnell said. \u201cMy job, our job, I think all of our jobs, is to make sure that the next generation of fans, wherever they grow up, whatever they do, wherever they come from, whatever makes them unique, knows that this sport belongs to them, not because we changed who we are but because new fans recognize what our core fans have known all along: that we’re a bad-ass American sport.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. \u2013 Noting its always-evolving emphasis on growth and innovation, NASCAR announced Saturday major changes to its leadership structure naming Steve O\u2019Donnell as the sport\u2019s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Ben Kennedy as the Chief Operating Officer (COO), effective immediately. The New Jersey-native O\u2019Donnell, 57, is now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":57483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[321,16,1163],"class_list":["post-57495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-ben-kennedy","tag-nascar","tag-steve-odonnell"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2273118202-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-eXl","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57495"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57498,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57495\/revisions\/57498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}