TALLADEGA, Ala. — NASCAR drivers woke up to two things Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway: the unwelcome sight of rain and a new, realigned era of the sport’s leadership.
The news became official Saturday with NASCAR appointing Steve O’Donnell to the role of chief executive officer and naming Ben Kennedy to the position of chief operating officer. Jim France, CEO since 2018, will remain as chairman.
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NASCAR Cup Series drivers were among those who received early notice Friday about the shift in NASCAR’s upper management, and the reaction was largely positive about what it meant for the sport’s direction.
“Jim France, I believe that he has done a great job,” said Daniel Suárez, driver of Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet. “Obviously, he has a lot of experience, he has seen a lot of things, but you know, the sport continues to evolve, continues to grow, and I think OD, he’s been around the sport for a very long time. He has a lot of experience. He has a lot of energy, too. He’s young, so I think that’s going to be very good for him. Obviously, Ben, he is very, very young. I mean, I feel like he’s my age. We raced together, he has a lot of experience and a very, very smart guy. So I think it’s good. I think it’s going to continue to push the sport to continue to think outside the box and continue to move forward.”
Several of the current crop of Cup Series drivers said they have a slightly closer connection to Kennedy, one of their contemporaries and a former racer who shared the track with them during his driving days. Kennedy — great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. — learned the ropes through his ties to the family business and through short-track competition, advancing to and winning in both the ARCA Menards Series East and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
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That background, says Chase Elliott, should serve him well as he expands his executive reach to include NASCAR’s competition department.
“I’ve said this before about Ben, but I think it would have been very easy for him to take whatever role he wanted to take without putting the effort and time into really understanding racing, and when I say racing, also outside of the NASCAR world,” said Elliott, driver of Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 9 Chevy. “So I gained a tremendous amount of respect for him for going and racing himself and spending time around short tracks across the country and being willing to go and try, and became a really good racer, too, in that. I’m sure that he learned a lot about motorsports as a whole, and I think that that also qualifies him, not just because of his name, but he has put time in that people probably aren’t aware of, to motorsports, to understand and be worthy and capable of such a role. So a lot of respect for him in that sense.”
Ryan Blaney shared those experiences alongside Kennedy, both in climbing the stock-car ladder and growing up as the latest generation of a racing family. Blaney says he’s seen the weight of the 34-year-old’s words grow, along with his reach.
“He’s just a good human being, and I think he is getting more outspoken as well,” Blaney said, “like he’s gotten into his roles very well, and I think the role that he’s going to be in is good. He’s going to have more of a voice, but I think Ben always has really good ideas. Obviously, I think of it kind of like me, right? My family was involved in racing for a long time. I’m very passionate about it, and the same with him. His family has been involved with it since its inception, and he’s incredibly passionate about this sport and wants it to do well. So I think he has a lot of cred. I think everyone respects him.
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“Like I said, I’ve always had a great relationship with Ben and always have been able to go to him with ideas or things that are on my mind and vice versa. He’s always reached out to me if he wants an opinion on anything, so I think that’s good. I think it’s good to have someone like that, so I think he’s very well-respected.”
The management shift is the latest in a series of executive moves and offseason changes in the sport. O’Donnell was promoted to president in March 2025, taking the reins from Steve Phelps, who assumed the role of NASCAR commissioner. This weekend’s announcement comes months after NASCAR reached a legal settlement for a charter agreement in December, Phelps’ departure in January and an overhaul to its postseason format that same month.
Elliott acknowledged the offseason changes that preceded Saturday’s announcement, but said he appreciated the patience NASCAR’s brass showed in building this personnel alignment.
“I mean, honestly, from my perspective, I think they took their time in that,” Elliott said. “I mean, if you just kind of look at everything that transpired over the winter, and where things started this season, and kind of all of that went on, I think it would have been very easy for them to feel like that they needed to put other people in positions and do it yesterday. So if I were to lean on any one side of the fence, it would be that I kind of appreciate them taking the time they did to be able to say, hey, these are the right people for the jobs and this is the position that whoever needs to be in to help make this thing go forward, and it seems like they took the time to at least think it through. And you know, I can admire that.”
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