After moving to the COO role, Ben Kennedy is wasting no time upgrading the sport. He recently announced their new goals of focusing on the fans and enhancing the track experience for them.

Speaking to SiriusXM NASCAR, Kennedy said, “We have a lot of things that we want to accomplish on the events and venues team. You know scheduling, and Julie's already done a good job of it. Figuring out a longer-term schedule through 2031 is going to be a big priority for us.

"Another one, and this came out of our Darlington secret shopper exercise, where we went undercover as fans for a day, and we are setting up another team to really focus on the fan experience at the tracks, so how to enhance that.”

“We need to focus on food and beverages. Very good transportation and escalators and elevators are really important facilities, so we have another team that's really going to hone in and focus on that and the overall fan experience. You know hospitality. things we are doing in the infield, how we partner up with our teams and drivers throughout the weekend," he added.

This role was previously held by Steve O’Donnell, who is now the new CEO. With O'Donnell's experience with events and venues and Kennedy’s new perspective, it will be interesting to see what the duo can do to enhance the fan experience. 

NASCAR fans taken aback after new CEO’s reaction to Carson Hocevar's celebration

After Carson Hocevar’s iconic post-win celebration, the fans were pretty vocal about their worries. Most of them expected serious consequences for the same, expecting the sport to ban the celebration. However, they were met with a pleasant surprise as Steve O’Donnell embraced the celebration. 

While speaking to ‘The Teardown,' O’Donnell explained why it is important for a driver to express themselves. He stated that it is crucial to show the sponsors that they will sell a lot more product if they let the drivers be themselves. 

“But what our fans love and when NASCAR is at its best is when its personalities, it's when people are in the racecar, who are in the industry who a fan can relate to and say, you know, I’d have a beer with that person, or I’d go to dinner with that person and they’re like me and they’re relatable. I think that’s what we need to get back to,”  he added.

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Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason