STEVE O'DONNELL

CEO, NASCAR, DAYTONA BEACH

O'Donnell was named CEO of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing in April. Jim France stepped away from the CEO role he had held since 2018 but remains NASCAR's chairman. The move made O'Donnell the first chief executive outside of the France family in the organization's 78-year history. It was the second major appointment in nearly a year for O'Donnell, who spent 30 years guiding NASCAR's marketing and later competition departments, and was named its president in 2025. He said he planned to take a measured approach early on as he rounded into the role, with long-term growth as a priority. “What I'm going to do is go out and do a lot of listening, especially the first 90 days,” he says. “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?”