Jim France has officially stepped down as CEO, and Denny Hamlin thinks it's the right call.

On Saturday, Jim France announced that he was stepping down from his Chief Executive Officer duties after eight years. Steve O’Donnell will be taking over the duties. This marks a significant milestone in NASCAR’s ownership.

During an interview with the media, Hamlin said, “It was an unfortunate situation that it went as far as it did. But I think everyone learned a lot from that. You know, and it’s what matters. You know he had to come in to a challenging situation and step in. Obviously, COVID was something that he had to navigate.”

Jim France had taken over from his nephew Brian back in 2018. And what fans thought would be an interim role quickly became a full-time position as COVID rolled around. Despite the daunting challenge, all 36 Cup Series races took place in 2020.

France and his team followed that up with the Next-Gen car in 2022, even going as far as switching up the playoff format. However, his final year in office had an anti-trust lawsuit from 23XI Racing (a team Denny Hamlin is a co-owner in) and Front Row Motorsports that was eventually settled in 2025.

Hamlin added, “I thought he did it very well. There are just a lot of things that he wanted to see our sport head down a certain path, and some were successes and some were not. That’s really what you’ll have no matter who’s in charge. Not everyone’s gonna bat 100 percent. You know it was time for fresh blood…” 

France Expressed His Confidence in the Transition Through an Official Statement

France will continue to serve as the Chairman of the board alongside his niece, Lesa France Kennedy. The former CEO released a statement about his decision. It read:

“I am incredibly proud of the strength and stability we’ve achieved across the sport, which gives me tremendous confidence in our plan to transition leadership to Steve as NASCAR's next CEO and Ben as COO. Together, they represent the future of the sport, and along with our world-class executive team and race team partners in the garage, they will guide NASCAR into its exciting next era,"  

His departure follows increasing public calls for organizational change within NASCAR.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar