“It Was Time to Get Some Fresh Blood!” Denny Hamlin Gives Honest Take on Jim France NASCAR Departure

Joe Gibbs Racing veteran racer Denny Hamlin has shared his thoughts on Jim France quitting his role as the NASCAR CEO.

“It Was Time to Get Some Fresh Blood!” Denny Hamlin Gives Honest Take on Jim France NASCAR Departure

Jim France and Denny Hamlin (images via SBJ and IMAGO)

Ahead of the Talladega race weekend, NASCAR made a massive announcement. Jim France has stepped down as the CEO and the sport promoted Steve O’Donnell to the role. He is the first person outside the France family to take over the role. Ben Kennedy was also promoted to the COO role, with the outgoing head of the sport limiting his influence to being as the chairman of the board.

Joe Gibbs Racing Denny Hamlin, who found himself fighting Mr. France on the court with the 23XI Racing-FRM charter lawsuit, shared his thoughts on the change ahead of the Talladega Cup race. He highlighted how the veteran led the sport through the tough times during the COVID-19 pandemic and came out successful.

He had to come in a challenging situation, right, to step in. And obviously, COVID was something that he had to navigate, and I thought he did very well.

Denny Hamlin told the Media at Talladega.

Jim France was able to make a lot of changes to the sport and some of his policies has helped the sport to get back to its prime years in terms of TV ratings and cultural impact. At the same time there were some big mistakes as well, which is normal for such a significant management role. Denny Hamlin believes it was high time the sport gives the reigns to new faces.  

There’s just a lot of things that he wanted to see our sport head down a certain path, and some were successes, some were not. That’s really what you’ll have no matter who’s in charge. Not everyone’s gonna bat 100 percent and certainly feel like it was time to get some fresh blood in there.

Denny Hamlin added.

Brad Keselowski doesn’t think Jim France’s exit is a massive change

RFK Racing owner driver Brad Keselowski also shared his thoughts about the change the management restructuring. He doesn’t see this as a massive change, as Steve O’Donnell has been part of the leadership group for more than two decades and has been the key figure behind the sport’s success.

Brad Keselowski
Brad Keselowski (Via IMAGO)

I don’t know if I see it as a massive change. I feel like Steve O’Donnell has kind of been running a big part of the show for a while now, but just probably more official is kind of how I feel about it. I’m sure there is some stuff inside that I’m not aware of, but it’s good for him that there’s clarification in the role and all those things.

Brad Keselowski said.

Further talking about the point, he admitted that the changes are good for the sport. He also talked about Ben Kennedy’s promotion and highlighted how the former racer earned his spot with the innovative changes he has brought up over the years.

That’s good for the industry, and then obviously seeing Ben’s role continue to elevate is probably not a surprise to anybody. He’s put a lot of work into a number of initiatives in this sport and has cut his teeth, and I think is ready for that next opportunity.

Brad Keselowski added.

The comments from veteran duo shows the racing community knew a change to the management was necessary and it has come at the right time. It would be interesting to see how the new leaders are going to change the sport.

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