Episode summary
Driving change at NASCAR: CEO Steve O’Donnell on the company's 'Project 2032' growth plan
Summary
NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell says Project 2032 is about making the sport more collaborative and more broadly visible, not just improving the governing body. He argues that NASCAR has to define success as growth across the entire ecosystem: race teams, sponsors, ratings, attendance, and tracks, with everyone moving together toward being a must-have sport by 2032.
A major part of that plan is reaching younger fans through a wider media footprint. O’Donnell says NASCAR’s deals with FOX, NBC, Amazon, CW, and other outlets are intended to put the sport in front of more eyeballs, and he claims Amazon has already helped lower the average age of viewers by five years over two years. He says NASCAR does not want to go “all streaming” right away, but it does need to be present on platforms like YouTube where younger audiences already are.
He also frames Formula 1 as a useful model rather than a direct rival. O’Donnell says NASCAR can learn from how F1 develops personalities beyond the drivers and tells the stories of pit crews and team members. He points to the upcoming Days of Thunder project with Tom Cruise and the involvement of Michael Jordan as examples of how high-profile names can help bring new fans into the sport.
Key takeaways
- O’Donnell says Project 2032 is meant to align teams, tracks, sponsors, and media partners around shared growth, not just NASCAR’s own success.
- He claims Amazon has helped make the NASCAR audience five years younger over two years, showing streaming can expand the fan base.
- NASCAR wants to stay on linear TV and streaming at the same time, with O’Donnell saying it does not want to go “all streaming” yet.
- He views F1 as a learning opportunity, especially on storytelling around team principals, pit crews, and other personalities.
- O’Donnell says Michael Jordan is “a huge asset” because he is actively engaged, attends races, and helps draw attention to the sport.
Notable quotes
“THE BIGGEST JOB IS WE HAVE AN INCREDIBLE INDUSTRY, GREAT PEOPLE WITHIN NASCAR, BUT THE DRIVERS, TEAMS, TRACKS KIND OF BRING ALL THOSE FOLKS TOGETHER”
“SUCCESS FOR NASCAR MEANS RACE TEAMS GROWING NEW SPONSORS COMING IN, RATINGS, GOING UP OUR TRACKS WITH ATTENDANCE AND ALL THOSE PEOPLE”
“WE'VE DRIVEN THE FAN DOWN FIVE YEARS IN TERMS OF AGE WHO WATCH THE SPORT”
“I DON'T THINK WE WANT TO GO ALL STREAMING RIGHT AWAY, BUT WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE IN FRONT OF AS MANY EYEBALLS AS POSSIBLE”
“I REALLY LIKE HOW THEY'VE CREATED PERSONALITIES OUTSIDE OF THEIR DRIVERS”
How the episode opens
All right. Welcome back everybody. NASCAR says it wants to bring some fun back to the racing league. Part of that strategy is engaging new, younger fans and driving change in the sport with an ambitious plan that's called project 2032. NASCAR ceo steve o'donnell joins us following the race day at the charlotte motor speedway this past weekend. It was a big one. It was a photo finish. It was it was pretty exciting.
It was fun. Yeah. Good battle in the chase. So you're seeing drivers up on the wheel. So it was fun. Yeah. Glad the fans saw that one. — You know steve, you are the first time in 78 years that there's someone whose last name is not france running this. You've been at NASCAR for a long time, though. What is it, 25, 30 years?
You've been. Yeah. Over 30. Yep. — Okay. So you have some things that you're kind of thinking about changing. And obviously there's a lot of room for excitement and growth, but at the same time, you don't want to alienate the traditional viewers who have been with you for a long time. Your fans.
Yeah, I think, you know, first and foremost, it's important to talk about what the france family has built, right? A family owned sport to compete, to be able to even be here today has put us in a in a really good place from a foundation. But, you know, the job now is to take kind of what I've learned along the way, maybe some of the mistakes we've made pivot, learn to pivot a little quicker.
But the biggest job is we have an incredible industry, great people within NASCAR, but the drivers, teams, tracks kind of bring all those folks together right now and really talk about what's possible as we go forward.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- nascar changes
- project 2032 growth plan
- younger fan engagement
- streaming strategy
- growth outlook
Companies and tickers mentioned
- NASCAR
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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