NASCAR CEO Jim France is stepping down. Taking his place will be longtime NASCAR executive Steve O’Donnell, sources confirmed to Yahoo Sports. O’Donnell will become the first non-France family member to lead the sport.
France, 81, has been in charge of NASCAR since he took over as the sanctioning body’s interim CEO in 2018 following the arrest of his nephew Brian France. Before running NASCAR for nearly the past eight years, Jim France was a president of ISC, the former publicly-owned subsidiary of NASCAR that owned tracks across the country and was also a member of NASCAR’s board of directors.
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Jim France will reportedly remain as chairman of the board.
O’Donnell, 57, has been with NASCAR since 1996 when he joined the marketing department. He has risen through the ranks from leading racing operations to the COO to president and now its Chief Executive Officer.
According to The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi, the transition will take place immediately.
The France family has led NASCAR since Jim’s father, Bill France Sr., founded the stock car racing series in a Daytona Beach hotel in the 1940s. After Bill France Sr. stepped down, his son Bill Jr. took over in 1972 as NASCAR emerged from a regional sport to a national one in his reign.
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Especially in NASCAR’s earlier days, the France family could rule with an iron fist. But its power over NASCAR has been significantly challenged over the past year. After the 23XI Racing team co-owned by Michael Jordan and Front Row Motorsports sued NASCAR over its franchising agreement, the sanctioning body settled with the teams after the antitrust trial had begun.
The settlement was an indisputable win for 23XI and Front Row. The two teams had refused to sign a renewal of NASCAR’s charter agreement, alleging that the new terms transferred too much power to a monopolistic NASCAR.
The teams wanted permanent charters; NASCAR had threatened that the charter system could be blown up if teams didn’t sign. The settlement granted teams those permanent charters while also giving 23XI and Front Row its charters back.
What is next for NASCAR?
Brian France took over for his father, Bill Jr., in 2003, and was in charge of NASCAR for 15 years before his arrest for suspicion of driving under the influence in August of 2018. By putting Jim in charge, the Frances kept the leadership of the company in the family once again.
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The two most involved family members in the company are Lesa France Kennedy and her son, former Truck Series driver Ben Kennedy. Lesa, Bill Jr.’s daughter, is the executive vice chair of NASCAR and has also served as a president of ISC.
Ben Kennedy, 34, is currently an executive vice president for NASCAR after joining the family business after his racing career ended in 2017. He being elevated to Chief Operating Officer, according to a source.
O’Donnell currently serves as NASCAR’s president. He recently took over the position after the January departure of Steve Phelps in the wake of the antitrust trial. The trial revealed that Phelps had called longtime NASCAR team owner Richard Childress “a stupid redneck who owes his entire fortune to NASCAR” in 2023 during charter negotiations.
Phelps was NASCAR’s third president from outside the France family after longtime president Mike Helton and Brent Dewar, the man who preceded him in the position.
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Given the recent turmoil in NASCAR — and continuation of a slow decline in Cup Series TV ratings — Jim France’s departure could make it a perfect time for the sanctioning body to transition to leadership outside the France family. The Cup Series is far from its 2000s-era heyday of corporate money and booming TV rights. While the France family helped lead the charge to relevance, it’s also overseen the slow creep away from it. A fresh approach could be the spark that NASCAR needs as it searches for both a popularity rebound and to regain trust with its teams.
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