HOMESTEAD, Fla. — In his first “State of the Sport” news conference as NASCAR CEO, Steve O’Donnell accentuated the positives — and there was much to accentuate.
O’Donnell took to the dais at Homestead-Miami Speedway with the announcement of car maker Dodge’s return to the NASCAR Cup Series less than a week old.
The return to Homestead for the season finale also coincided with the adoption of a multi-race Chase format for determining the champions in all three of NASCAR’s national touring series this year.
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Gone were the headwinds of a lawsuit overhanging the industry during last year’s Championship Weekend at Phoenix Raceway. Last December, NASCAR reached an amicable settlement of the suit brought by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
During the months that followed, the sport has seen significant increases in attendance at its races — notably among younger fans — a burgeoning social media presence and a year-long partnership with The CW that has elevated the prominence of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
O’Donnell condensed his synopsis of the 2026 season into a single statement: “NASCAR has encouraging momentum, but we have work to do.”
“Looking back,” he added, “I think there’s a lot for the entire industry to be proud of. Our teams and drivers have given us terrific competition. Fans are coming out to the race track. New brands are investing in the sport like never before.
“It’s been a long time since you’ve seen the activation from sponsors around our teams and drivers, which is terrific.”
O’Donnell also highlighted the return of The Chase presented by Mobil 1, which has played out differently in all three series. On the Cup Series side, Kyle Larson has raced into a dominant position with one event left, needing to score a 28th-place finish in Sunday’s Championship Race to secure his third title.
The O’Reilly Series, on the other hand, features a five-driver free-for-all, with veteran Justin Allgaier enjoying a slim 22-point lead at the top of the Chase standings. In the Craftsman Truck Series, Kaden Honeycutt and Layne Riggs were set to go head-to-head for the title on Friday night.
“The return of The Chase, at least in my opinion, has put the focus back where it belongs, on the performance week-in and week-out for the drivers,” O’Donnell said. “If you look at the championship media session for the Cup Series this weekend, there was one driver in there.
“I would say that’s successful. We looked at one driver who’s had an outstanding Chase, and that’s where the focus should be, in my opinion.”
O’Donnell also stressed the importance of expanding the television audience for all three national series.
“Television audience, which we all focus on as one of many factors for the sport, is consistently strong and it remains so, but it’s a focus for our entire industry and will be in the coming years,” he said. “We’ve all seen the numbers, and I think it’s important to really look at where NASCAR is.
“If you compared NASCAR to a new sport that’s just emerging, you’d say it’s an incredible success story: Consistently large television audience, 36 straight weekends; it’s amongst the largest in sports.
“But the audience can and will grow, and that’s an area of focus for all of us in the industry as we go forward.”
Dodge announced on Monday that it would return to the Cup Series for the first time since 2012. Kaulig Racing will field two Cup entries for the 2027 season. O’Donnell also indicated NASCAR is having ongoing world-wide discussions with other potential OEMs.
“It’s going to be fun seeing what Dodge does,” he said. “We’re going to be all around the globe looking at new OEMs, for sure, but happy that we got a fourth. Happy to say that versus saying, well, we’re looking at it, for sure.”
Named NASCAR CEO in April, O’Donnell pointed to five pillars crucial to NASCAR’s future growth: competition, audience growth and engagement, schedule and media strategy, international expansion and at-track fan development.
“I’m excited about the future, and most particularly I’m excited about our team and the folks who are going to work together, because I think for the first time in a long, long time there’s alignment on where we’re going,” O’Donnell said.
“We do the blocking and tackling race-to-race really, really well. The five-year plan of where we’re going hasn’t been something we’ve focused on as an industry. That’s all changed, and we’re coming together to work together to really grow this sport.”
Other important subjects raised during the discussion included NASCAR’s ongoing commitment to safety; the highlighting of rivalries between team principals; the continuing development of competition packages, including possible augmentation of horsepower; partnerships with United States Armed Forces that could take NASCAR racing to military bases — such as Naval Base Coronado — in underserved markets and the possibility of stand-alone O’Reilly Series races on weekdays.
One change that will be coming is the metric used for ordering the starting fields in the case of qualifying rainouts. This year, the metric was weighted more heavily toward finishing position in the previous race, a formula that proved burdensome during The Chase.
“This had been put in place back in COVID, and I think everybody just didn’t see it or didn’t read it, and all of a sudden we got rain, rain, rain, and it became a big issue or a big talking point,” O’Donnell said. “So that is something we’ll look at.
“We’re also looking at tweaking qualifying a little bit at select events as well that I think the fans will embrace. Nothing to announce today, but we’ve got some good things working in the off-season, not only about tweaking what you talked about, but some different formats we can explore as well.”
John Probst, NASCAR president of event management, later confirmed that starting order will revert to owner points alone in the case of canceled qualifying sessions.
O’Donnell prefaced his remarks with recognition of the profound loss of champion driver Kyle Busch, who died from a sudden illness in May.
“It’s tough to not talk about Kyle when you’re back in Miami,” O’Donnell said. “An extraordinary competitor, two-time champion in our sport and won the championship here, and I think he’s left a forever mark on our sport.
“I said this back at Charlotte and it still stands today, and it’ll stand forever really, and that’s to (widow) Samantha, (son) Brexton and (daughter) Lennix, they’re always going to be a part of the NASCAR family.
“We all miss Kyle. It’s not the same without him in terms of celebrating a championship, especially how he embraced this place, but he’s going to be with us for years and years to come.”