NASCAR’s First Outsider CEO Is Betting on Something Radical: Listening
Steve O’Donnell steps into the top job promising accessibility and collaboration in a sport that hasn’t always embraced either.
NASCAR’s First Non-France CEO Bets on Listening Jared C. Tilton - Getty Images Collaboration is NASCAR Chief Executive Officer Steve O’Donnell’s primary objective as he becomes the first non-France family member to hold the CEO position in the organization’s 78-year history. “The first goal that we’ve got is to really unite our industry,” O’Donnell said during a press conference Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway .
“I want to create a culture where there’s collaboration, a genuine collaboration, where everybody wins. ” O’Donnell’s emphasis on collaboration comes within four months of a settlement in a federal antitrust suit that 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed against NASCAR. “I know there’s a number of areas that we need to address and we’re going to move with urgency,” O’Donnell said.
“What we’re going to need from this industry, and I’m talking to everyone in this industry now, is their collective intelligence. “I think the Chase is an example of when we are at our best. Everyone contributed to that idea.
We had every stakeholder in the industry weighing in on what this could be. You can see when we do those things, we don’t always agree on exactly what comes out, but everybody has had input. ” O’Donnell says the No.