NASCAR recently made some significant changes to its top brass during the Talladega Superspeedway race weekend, including appointing a new CEO and COO. However, according to former NASCAR champion and team owner Tony Stewart, there needs to be another CEO change in the governing body.

For the unversed, the latest changes included Steve O'Donnell replacing Jim France as NASCAR CEO and Ben Kennedy becoming the new COO.

In Thursday's episode of the "Rubbin' is Racing" podcast, Stewart shared his opinion on the reshuffle. He said, "They need to make another CEO change in my opinion, in all reality."

"Yeah, obviously Steve Phelps stepped down. Jim (France) stepped down now. You know, they both were great for the sport, but you know, obviously, there were a lot of things that came out during the lawsuit that showed people's true colours, and it showed some, it didn't show all of them, but even in Steve's case here, the new Steve's case, he probably needs to be the next one," Tony Stewart added.

Notably, Stewart's statement comes after Steve Phelps, former NASCAR President, had to step down from his office in January after controversial text messages with one NASCAR employee were revealed in court. The texts were regarding Richard Childress, the owner of Richard Childress Racing, which surfaced during the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports lawsuit.

New NASCAR CEO let his feelings be known after principal change

Though Jim France has stepped down as CEO, and O'Donnell has replaced him at the top, France will remain the chairperson, and his majority stake in NASCAR will remain the same.

O'Donnell, who previously served as the COO, shared his thoughts about assuming his new role. Speaking about it at Talladega, he said:

"It is an honor to step into the role of CEO, working alongside Ben and our leadership team at such an important time for our sport. I have devoted nearly my entire career to NASCAR, this garage and our fans, guided by the France family's commitment to deliver the best racing in the world."

"I am grateful and energized to continue to collaborate with our colleagues across our sport, while listening to our race fans to realize that vision each and every week," O'Donnell added.

Ben Kennedy, the great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France, also acknowledged the wide array of changes awaiting NASCAR. He promised that the organization would approach it with the required "urgency."

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Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Yask Kotak