Steve O’Donnell speaks out on adjusting to new role as NASCAR President

Steve O’Donnell has opened up on adjusting to his new role as NASCAR President. 

NASCAR announced at the end of March 2025 that Steve Phelps would move from his role as President to the newly formed position of Commissioner of NASCAR. As a part of these changes, O’Donnell, previously the chief operating officer, took the role of President.

Jim France, NASCAR Chairman and CEO, stated at the time:

“We are thrilled to name Steve Phelps as NASCAR’s first Commissioner. His leadership, professionalism and well-earned respect from across the sports industry speak to his unique value for the sport.

“With more than 50 years of expertise between them, both Steve Phelps and Steve O’Donnell bring tremendous expertise, stability and a commitment to the bold racing innovations that will continue to serve fans, teams and stakeholders for many years to come.”

When asked how he has been settling into the new position during an interview with Sports Business Journal (below), O’Donnell commented:

“You know, it’s a lot of the same in terms of what I’ve been doing. Really working more closely with Steve Phelps, aligning all of our different departments within NASCAR. Like, here’s the vision, here’s where we want to go in the next three to five years.

Steve O’Donnell

Photo by: James Holland

“Getting to know some of the different departments a little bit more, coming from the competition side originally. So, it’s been fun.

“We’ve got a lot of great people. Just letting them do their jobs is going to be key to our success.”

The NASCAR President added that the biggest thing on his plate right now is setting the sport up for the next 10 years. He concluded:

“The biggest thing would probably be just looking forward, working with Steve [Phelps] to really set us up for the next five to 10 years. And then kind of working backwards.

“We’ve got a lot of projects, we don’t give ourselves as much lead time as we probably need, so just getting ahead of that with the industry and working backwards, setting us up for success.”

NASCAR heads to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend for the Xfinity and Cup Series.