There’s no denying that NASCAR’s leadership shake up has dominated headlines over the past week. While Jim France officially ending the family’s 78-year-old chokehold on the CEO throne, not everyone is celebrating the new era. While the sport ushers in a fresh CEO and chief operating officer, Tony Stewart is already raising eyebrows. The three time Series champion isn’t buying into the change just yet and he believes another major move may still be needed.

Speaking on the latest episode of the Rubbin is Racing podcast, the 45-year-old isn’t exactly team Steve O’Donnell.

“They need to make another CEO change in my opinion,” he said. “In all reality, obviously Steve Phelps stepped down.  Jim stepped down now. They both were great for the sport, obviously there were a lot of things that came out during the lawsuit that that showed people’s true colors. It didn’t show all of them, but, even in Steve’s case here, he probably needs to be the next one.”

Pushing for Steve O’Donnell to be the next step away from NASCAR is something that carries a lot of weight. O’Donnell’s promotion to CEO proves to be more than just a title change.

Working for more than three decades with the organisation, he has become the fifth CEO and the first in the sport’s 78-year history who does not come from the France family lineage.

With Jim France stepping away from day-to-day leadership while still remaining chairman, O’Donnell is now given more control over NASCAR’ s business and competition direction moving forward.

France’s parting words were more than touching as he now passes the baton to O’Donnell.

“I believe we have the finest team people working on running NASCAR ever had in its entire history. It’s going to be my honor to turn this over to NASCAR’s CEO Steve O’Donnell,” he admitted. “Steve and Ben went to work putting together a plan for getting our industry together. Great team. Steve, you’ve got the wheel, partner.”

However, Stewart’s apprehension is taking centre stage. The Indiana native’s criticism ties back to the growing tensions surrounding NASCAR anti-trust lawsuit involving 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports last year where private conversations suddenly became public reading material.

And once those messages surfaced, they painted a far different picture of how NASCAR leadership handled tension behind closed doors.

When O’Donnell served as NASCAR’s president up until this year, one exchange from the trial in December 2025 grabbed attention.

After learning that NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin plan to race in SRX, executives reacted in a private group chat.

Someone wrote, “Oh great another owner Racing in SRX, while O’Donnell jumped in with, “This is NASCAR. Pure and simple. Enough. We need legal to take a shot at this.” The messages became impossible to ignore once the lawsuit reached court.

O’Donnell’s question directly about them while testifying, forcing NASCAR’s internal mindset into the spotlight.

O’Donnell quickly replied with a simple answer, “I recall we all became concerned at the look and feel of the series.”

Suddenly, what may have once looked like normal executive frustration started to feel far more personal, especially to critics who believe the lawsuit exposed how defensive NASCAR had become about protecting its control over the sport.

And maybe Stewart he’s calling for someone who wasn’t involved in the lawsuit to begin with, in a way purifying the leadership that was exposed.

But while the veteran hasn’t stayed away from criticising NASCAR’s direction, he has also been increasingly honest about his own future.

Amid the conversation about leadership changes, the three-time Cup Champion recently revealed that his own timeline and Racing may not stretch on forever.

Stewart hints at stepping away from racing

For Tony Stewart, retirement no longer feels like a distant conversation. While Smoke already stepped away from NASCAR in 2016, he is still chasing speed in the NHRA series. However, now he is speaking more openly about when the right could finally end and the reasons have little to do with losing passion for Racing.

Speaking on the same podcast, the 54-year-old got candidate about the physical toll that comes with years behind the wheel.

“We’ve had injuries in racing that, you know, after a while it adds up and keeps building up,” Stewart said. “we’ve had enough concussions. I have memory issues. There’s a lot of things that we fight physically uh that will probably be that determining factor of what what’s that end date for us from driving.”

“So, you know, for me, there’s going to be a point in your time…there’s going to be that day you wake up and go, I’m done. I’m ready to hang it up.”

After decades of crashes, hard hits and high-speed competition that comes a point when the body starts making decisions for you and that moment is closer to Stewart.

That thought carries extra weight when you look back at his terrifying crash at Maple Grove raceway in September 2025. A blown tire on Doug Kalitta’s car triggered a violent impact at more than 300 MPH, the kind of moment that reminds everyone just how unforgiving drag racing can be.

With the most upsetting part came after the crash. Stewart admitted he had almost no memory of what happened during the crash.

“I don’t have a damn clue, honestly. I don’t remember any of it. The first thing I remember, they’re waking me up here. Not sure what happened. It appears to be pretty massive,” he said post race.

For someone already thinking about concussions and long-term damage, experience like these are hard to brush aside.