TRENDING Ravens look ugly on 'TNF' LSU women break D-I record Week 9 fantasy sleepers NFL trade deadline buzz Ranking NBA rookie phenoms Story by Story by Steve O'Donnell touts growth, acknowledges challenges in State of NASCAR presser Motorsport photo Matt Weaver · Motorsport Fri, November 6, 2026 at 6:56 PM UTC · 10 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A simple glance at the podium for the annual 'State of NASCAR' press conference reflects just how much has changed over the past calendar year.
The season finale is now at Homestead-Miami Speedway instead of Phoenix Raceway. It's the same desk where Kyle Larson sat for the championship finalists press conference by himself because he will in all likelihood clinch early on Sunday.
Kyle Larson sits alone on stage for NASCAR Championship Media Day
Last year, Steve O'Donnell was joined by then Commissioner Steve Phelps, who left in the aftermath of the antitrust lawsuit and trial with 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports . Like Larson the day before, O'Donnell was the only leader present on the stage.
For many years, O'Donnell was an occasionally combative and brash executive because he is very passionate about what he does but has evolved into a CEO that balances his optimism with a nuanced acknowledgment that leadership involves being challenged.
"I think as an industry, we do a pretty good job of being critical of ourselves, and that's okay because we always want to get better," O'Donnell said. "But when you get outside of the kind of NASCAR bubble, in the garage area, and you move around to some of the partners, especially when you talk to some of the media folks and folks who aren't as close to NASCAR, the story is very different."
"NASCAR has momentum, and momentum they haven't seen before. Are there challenges? For sure."
But he sees opportunity in challenge as well.
"I think it's no surprise everyone in our industry recognizes it, but we recognize it as an opportunity because we are now working together as an industry talking about what should we do," he said. "What's the art of the possibilities in terms of when we race, where we race. We have a lot of opportunities to build off of. I'm confident getting up here on behalf of our whole team in the industry to say we do have momentum."
O'Donnell emphasized growth and the pursuit of younger fans on Friday during his time, while also taking questions from the assembled media on all number of topics. The key takeaway can be found below.
NASCAR confirms new qualifying rainout policy, mulls other 2027 changes
Television ratings have been a topic of conversation all year, but especially since September when NASCAR has went head-to-head with the National Football League, leaving the Cup Series with a very diminished number.
Specifically, Cup Series ratings are down three percent year-over-year, averaging 1.71 million viewers over the past nine race. O'Donnell conceded that going against football 'is a challenge' and 'we are going to look at that.'
But O'Donnell came with talking points to otherwise address the numbers.
"The other partners at the beginning of the season or the other portion of the season were flat to up, so pretty good," O'Donnell said. "Pretty good numbers."
However, that even came with a caveat as the numbers were down using the Big Data + Panel metric and NASCAR reverted to using just a Panel metric over the summer months. O'Donnell praised the gains in O'Reilly and Truck Series ratings with gains in a younger demographic.
"Then you've got to look at your social media engagement, are you growing on YouTube, are sponsors coming into the sport, are you top of mind as people are talking about it," O'Donnell said. "All those things are up. Attendance. If I came in here today and said, oh, our attendance is matching our ratings kind of in the tail end of the season, that would be something we want to focus on. Our attendance is up."
O'Donnell said television ratings are important but so too are the other ways people engage with the sport.
"If you're in New York or Seattle, Washington, and you don't have a race, what is that entry point," he said. "It may be a YouTube clip that you see that you say, 'this is pretty cool; what is this? I'm going to tune into that race. I'm going to find it, I'm going to then go to the race.'"
O'Donnell really believes NASCAR needs to be more strongly represented on YouTube and says the Sanctioning Body is pushing for teams and drivers to be active on that platform as well.
No doubt, O'Donnell has seen the ways YouTuber Cleetus McFarland has connected with his audience and brought them over to his ARCA and NASCAR appearances. Beyond that, YouTube is quickly becoming the most consumed information and content source on the planet.
"It's important for us to work together on YouTube, and that doesn't just mean NASCAR," O'Donnell said. "That means the drivers, teams, tracks really coming together to really embrace that platform.
Beyond YouTube, O'Donnell says NASCAR is emphasizing content intended to penetrate larger pop culture bubbles.
"Folks have seen the AMC Thunder Road show that will launch," O'Donnell said. "Everybody is familiar hopefully with Days of Thunder (2) and the partnership with Skydance that's coming.
"We've got a lot of new content projects that are going to come through across various platforms, including our FAST Channel. When you look at the FAST Channel, since October of 2015 content projects, the reported view is up 35 percent. So, again, really strong indications of people engaging in the sport."
Is it time for NASCAR to look at the intermediate track rules package?
Why NASCAR's indecision led to Dodge's decision to return to Cup
"Everything that is still ailing NASCAR, this is a panacea for what that is."
Phelps said that about the NextGen all the way back in 2021 but that hasn't entirely proved accurate.
The car came in way more expensive than anticipated. These are roughly $350,000 race cars. The initial version of the car was built so sturdy that it was intended that teams would only need a handful of them per car number. But the need to soften the clips in the name of safety has meant these cars need way more work between races means each car number needs the full allotment of seven chassis.
From a racing standpoint, the NextGen initially made intermediate racing tremendously compelling but short tracks became increasingly lackluster. Over time, horsepower increases and softer tires have made the short tracks more bearable but the intermediates have gone from 'tremendously compelling' to 'more bearable' as well.
There is a subset of fans that have vilified the single source supplied car as representative of everything that ails NASCAR and O'Donnell rejects that.
"Our metrics when we look at the fan counts and every one (of them) say we are trending in a very positive direction," O'Donnell said. "Does that mean everything is great and we've stopped doing anything? No. I think you've seen us make some significant changes. We'll continue to do that."
O'Donnell said NASCAR is not exploring a Gen8 car right now, and that the NextGen is creating business opportunities the Gen6 never did.
"Well, let's look at this industry and why we went to this car," O'Donnell said. "We were on a pathway where there was very limited ownership. Teams were car manufacturers. There were no new OEMs that came into the sport. There were no conversations."
O'Donnell said NASCAR believed that the previous generation of car risked pushing owners and manufacturers away. O'Donnell said Dodge is returning to the Cup Series because of the NextGen.
"You have pretty good racing," O'Donnell said. "The facts when you look at those compared to other sports are pretty strong. So I think it's important to look at what changes we can tweak along the way. But for us, we want a sustainable model for the industry.
"A Gen-8 car comes with all kinds of costs and all kinds of different things, so I'm confident in our guys and the industry and the OEMs to tweak what we have where necessary, but also be pretty confident in our drivers going out there and having the ability to go win races and put on some pretty darned good competition."
In the meanwhile, O'Donnell says 'discussions are still ongoing' about additional horsepower increases to either the 750HP short track package or the 670HP intermediate track.
In a lot of ways, the 2027 Cup Series schedule is the most stagnant since the start of this decade.
The San Diego Street Course is coming back and Chicagoland will remain on the schedule in the absence of a return to Downtown Chicago. There is nothing new year-over-year but that doesn't mean NASCAR isn't full speed in exploring their options.
"Julie Giese, if you looked at her travel schedule the last month, I think, she been everywhere, north, west, southwest, northeast, you name it, looking at different possibilities," O'Donnell said. "Do we have anything imminent to announce today? No.
"But there are some really strong possibilities, especially as you look around kind of that military base concept."
O'Donnell said NASCAR may have unlocked something repeatable when it comes the race at Naval Air Station North Island. While NASCAR has also proven it can race on city streets, O'Donnell indicated that military installations check a lot of boxes.
"It's not from a lack of interest," O'Donnell said of the lack of new in the 2027 schedule. "It's hard to do. It doesn't happen overnight. But there's been a lot of work that's already been in the developmental stages."
O'Donnell, Ben Kennedy and Giese also continue to explore international opportunities following the 2025 race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. O'Donnell praised the work of Senior VP of International, Adam Layton, who the league hired from the UFC.
He said the goal isn't to just collect a sanctioning fee.
"Have we brought any new sponsors? OEMs? New fans," O'Donnell asked rhetorically. "It's important for us to go into a marketplace, develop some fans, be in a local market, maybe bring some drivers in, be in the bars, whatever that may be, so they understand what NASCAR is when we go over.
"That work is starting, and I think the good news is there is a ton of interest."
O'Donnell said there is a tremendous amount of interest and excitement for NASCAR in Europe.
"There are opportunities there, but we want to make the right move, because ultimately it's got to benefit everybody here as well and grow kind of that whole pie," he said.
What is the timeline for a race held outside of North America?
"I wouldn't put one on it, but I would say it's not imminent," O'Donnell said. "I would say the next couple years before we would do something like that."
NASCAR has never shied away from making immediate knee-jerk reactions to his playoff formats over the past two decades.
The original Chase for the Championship grew from10 drivers to 12 with the addition of 'wild cards' for drivers who did not have enough points but otherwise won their way into the 10-race gauntlet.
The Playoffs saw the introduction of stages and playoff points, elements that then made their way into the latest iteration of the Chase for the Championship.
Larson has all but wrapped up the 2026 Cup championship but the O'Reilly Series and Truck Series remain open questions with five and two drivers respectively eligible for the championship.
O'Donnell said he was satisfied but open-minded. He wanted The Chase to focus on more drivers and an emphasis on a larger body of work in determining the eventual champions.
"My opinion is all that has happened," O'Donnell said. "Kyle Larson has gone on an historic run right now and deserves to be talked about.
"I think in the past if you look at even around the O'Reilly Series when you had that one-race deal, we would have had four drivers in here and it would have been different.
"So, in that regard, yes, I'm very satisfied. But want to take some time and see how it plays out over this weekend and see what happens, but at least in my discussions with the garage area and the industry, people feel like directionally it has worked. But we want to talk to the fans as well and see what feedback we get."
To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website .
Source: Sports
