Fire on Fridays: NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell Had His Mike Helton Moment

Twenty-five years and three months ago, NASCAR President Mike Helton gave what he called one of the toughest announcements he had ever made.

“We’ve lost Dale Earnhardt,” Helton said a the press conference following the 2001 Daytona 500.

It’s a moment that’s become one of the most memorable in NASCAR history. Thanks in large part to Helton handling one of the saddest days in motorsports history with such class and genuineness, he instantly became a well-respected figure by drivers, industry members, media and fans alike.

On May 22, new NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell held a press conference at Charlotte Motor Speedway in which he matched that class and genuineness shown by Helton a quarter of a century ago in speaking on the passing of Kyle Busch.

He took way more questions from the media than I would’ve expected and tried to answer them all thoughtfully and from the heart.

“Folks will often ask me when I’m around: what’s NASCAR like?” O’Donnell said. “My best description of NASCAR is it’s like a family reunion every week. And those of you who have gone to family reunions, you know that from time to time families don’t get along, but at the end of the day, everybody knows that they’re all part of the family.

“… I believe I can speak for everybody in the sport, and I’ll just say this: For me personally, the family reunions week to week are just not going to be the same without him, but we’re going to do our damn best to continue his legacy and support his family.”

Sure, there were a couple of stupid questions he shot down immediately, and deservedly so. These were questions about future investigations and such, which isn’t really his thing to speak on, given that Busch’s death and symptoms leading up to it were caused away from the track, unlike with Earnhardt.

But, for example, I asked him whether there would be any conversations about adding Busch to the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2027, even though voting for that had just concluded earlier in the week. I half-expected him to shoot that question down or give a non-answer, but he addressed it, saying it was something NASCAR could look into doing, but that he wanted to get through the Coca-Cola 600 weekend first.

That press conference, along with the way in which O’Donnell handled the pre-race ceremonies on Sunday, was his Mike Helton moment. If there was any doubt before last weekend whether NASCAR was in good hands or whether its leader deeply cared about it, that weekend should’ve squashed all of that.

The similarities between Helton’s and O’Donnell’s moments don’t stop there. Their tenures atop the NASCAR totem pole are the only such in NASCAR’s nearly 80-year history where that spot wasn’t occupied by a France.

In 2000, Helton took over as president after Bill France Jr. stepped down following his cancer diagnosis, meaning he was still pretty fresh to the job when he had to make the Earnhardt announcement. O’Donnell is even fresher.

In December 2025, O’Donnell had two people over him: CEO Jim France and Commissioner Steve Phelps. Phelps resigned after derogatory text messages about Richard Childress were made public during NASCAR’s trial against 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports. France didn’t come out of that trial looking much better, and he stepped down from his role just over a month ago.

All of that gave O’Donnell two quick promotions and left him at the forefront in one of NASCAR’s most pivotal moments all while the ink on his new business cards are just freshly dried. Still, he delivered in the moment he had to, just like Helton before him. Had the Earnhardt or Busch deaths happened at any point between Helton’s and O’Donnell’s time in charge, I’m not sure they would’ve been handled as well.

One difference between Helton’s moment and O’Donnell’s is Helton had to make that announcement about Earnhardt. Nobody knew what his status was, and someone had to deliver the news. O’Donnell didn’t have to do any of the things he did last weekend, but he did them anyway. That’s the sign of a great leader and someone who actually cares.

That should be one of the biggest takeaways from Charlotte. After 20 years of NASCAR leadership that left fans feeling hurt, overlooked and not cared for, it seems like the ship has finally been righted.

I’m sure O’Donnell will make mistakes along the way — he is a human being, after all — but the fan base should be able to give him grace going forward, knowing that above all else, he truly, genuinely cares.