Every February, more than 100,000 people pack the grandstands at Daytona International Speedway for the biggest race in American motorsports. Millions more watch on television. The Daytona 500 is not just a race — it is a national event, a cultural moment, and the unofficial kickoff to a season-long drama that plays out across 36 points-paying races in 48 U.S. states, Canada, and Mexico. But who actually owns the organization behind all of it?
The answer is surprisingly simple — and surprisingly human. NASCAR is owned by just two people: Jim France, the 81-year-old chairman and CEO who owns 54 percent of the organization, and his niece Lesa France Kennedy, the 64-year-old executive vice-chair who owns the remaining 46 percent.
No hedge funds. No private equity groups. No publicly traded corporation. Just two members of one American family — the same family that founded NASCAR in a hotel meeting room in Daytona Beach, Florida back in 1948 — who have never let go of what their grandfather and great-grandfather built from scratch.
Here is the complete story.
What Is NASCAR?
NASCAR — the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing — is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States and owner of 14 of the nation’s major motorsports entertainment facilities. NASCAR sanctions races in three national series: the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. It also governs four international series, four regional series, and a local grassroots series.
The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948 and is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida. Each year, NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in 48 U.S. states, as well as in Canada and Mexico.
Beyond the racing itself, NASCAR is a media and entertainment powerhouse. Its new $7.7 billion broadcast deal — the largest in the organization’s history — puts races on Fox Sports, NBC Sports, Amazon Prime Video, and TNT Sports through 2031. That single deal alone tells you everything about how much NASCAR has grown from its origins as a regional Southern sport into a genuine national institution worth an estimated $5 billion.
Who Owns NASCAR Right Now in 2026?
James France and his family own 100% of NASCAR, the stock car racing business founded by his father, William Henry Getty France, who passed away in 1992.
But to be more precise about the current split: Jim France owns 54 percent of NASCAR, and Lesa France Kennedy owns 46 percent. Exactly what NASCAR is worth would be a guess, but the media keeps referring to a 2023 analysis by Goldman Sachs that valued it at $5 billion.
This is one of the most unusual ownership structures in all of American professional sports. The NFL, the NBA, the MLB — all of these leagues are governed by committees of team owners and league commissioners. NASCAR is entirely different. It is a private company, and every race it sanctions, every rule it enforces, every broadcast deal it signs, and every track it operates flows from the authority of a single private family that has held this organization tightly in its hands for nearly eight decades.
Ownership and Key Stakeholders Table
| Owner / Party | Role | Ownership Stake | Key Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jim France | Chairman, CEO & Co-Owner | 54% of NASCAR | Son of founder Bill France Sr.; runs NASCAR since 2018 |
| Lesa France Kennedy | Executive Vice-Chair & Co-Owner | 46% of NASCAR | Daughter of Bill France Jr.; granddaughter of founder |
| France Family (combined) | Founding Family | 100% of NASCAR | Private company; no outside investors or public shareholders |
| NASCAR (via ISC merger) | Track Owner | Owns 11 Cup Series tracks | Bought out International Speedway Corporation (ISC) in 2019 |
| Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) | Third-Party Track Owner | Owns 10 Cup Series tracks | Bruton Smith family; largest non-NASCAR track owner |
| Fox Sports | Broadcast Partner | No equity | Airs first 14 Cup races per season including Daytona 500 |
| NBC Sports | Broadcast Partner | No equity | Airs final 14 Cup races including championship finale |
| Amazon Prime Video | Streaming Partner | No equity | Streams 5 Cup races annually — first NASCAR streaming deal |
| TNT Sports / Warner Bros. Discovery | Broadcast Partner | No equity | Airs 5 Cup races per season |
| Goldman Sachs (2023 valuation) | Financial Analyst | N/A | Estimated NASCAR’s total value at $5 billion |
The Origin Story: One Man, One Hotel Room, One Big Idea
The story of NASCAR ownership begins not on a racetrack, but in a Daytona Beach hotel.
Bill France Sr. — known throughout racing as “Big Bill” — conceived, created, and ran NASCAR. He founded and seized control of it for himself and his heirs in 1947. On December 14, 1947, France called a meeting of drivers, car owners, and mechanics at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida. Over the course of four days, they hammered out the rules and structure for a new national stock car racing organization.
NASCAR was officially incorporated on February 21, 1948. From the very first day, Bill France Sr. made sure that he — and his family — would control it completely. There were no outside investors. No partners with equal voting rights. The France family was NASCAR, and NASCAR was the France family.
Bill France Sr. organized the first race at Daytona Beach, Florida, which laid the foundation for what is now NASCAR. During the Great Depression, the family moved to Daytona Beach, where France became a racing driver and mechanic before seeing the business opportunity that nobody else had recognized: organizing and promoting stock car races on a national scale.
The genius of Big Bill’s model was that he controlled not just the racing organization but also many of the tracks where races were held. International Speedway Corporation was founded as Bill France Racing, Inc. in 1953, and in 1957 the company signed a contract for the use of land on which to build Daytona International Speedway, one of the world’s first superspeedways. A decade later, France decided to build another superspeedway near Talladega, Alabama.
By owning both the sanctioning body and the tracks, France created a vertically integrated empire that gave his family unmatched leverage over every aspect of the sport.
The France Family Dynasty: Three Generations of Control
For more than 75 years, one family has held the top job at NASCAR. Understanding who owns NASCAR means understanding each generation of the France family that has led it.
Bill France Sr. (1948–1972) was the founder and the iron-fisted patriarch who built NASCAR from nothing. He built the sport from the ground up, and Richard Petty and Bill France Jr. were close in age and in attitude about where NASCAR needed to go. Big Bill ran the organization with complete authority until he handed the reins to his son in 1972.
Bill France Jr. (1972–2000) took NASCAR from a regional Southern curiosity to a national television spectacle. France Jr. significantly expanded NASCAR during his tenure, taking it from a Southern regional sport to a national one. In 1979, he signed a deal with CBS Sports to televise the Daytona 500, which became the first live NASCAR race televised flag-to-flag. In 1999, he secured a record-setting $2.4 billion television contract for the 2001 season. He was diagnosed with cancer and stepped down from day-to-day operations in 2000, passing the CEO chair to his son Brian.
Brian France (2003–2018) was the third generation to lead the organization. Brian France served as CEO and chairman of the board from 2003 to 2018, following his grandfather and father in the executive position. He negotiated massive television deals and pushed NASCAR to its peak viewership numbers in the mid-2000s, when races were regularly the second-most-watched sporting events in America behind NFL games. But his tenure ended dramatically. In August 2018, France was arrested for DUI and possession of oxycodone in Sag Harbor, New York. He took an indefinite leave of absence that became permanent when he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor DUI in June 2019.
Jim France (2018–Present) stepped in as interim CEO when his nephew was arrested and never stepped back out. Jim France is the chief executive officer, the chairman, and executive vice president of NASCAR — the son of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. He began working for his father at ISC in 1959, aged 14, and ultimately acceded to the ISC presidency in 1987.
Jim went to work for his father when he was 14, graduated from high school in Daytona, then from college with a business degree in 1968, followed by a stint in the U.S. Army in Vietnam. On his return, Jim gravitated not to NASCAR but to its sister company, the International Speedway Corporation. It was not a job he sought — but it is one he has held with quiet dedication ever since.
Lesa France Kennedy: The Other Half of NASCAR
Lesa France Kennedy is, by most accounts, one of the most underappreciated executives in American sports. She owns 46% of NASCAR and serves as Executive Vice-Chair — but her fingerprints are on some of the most important decisions the organization has made in the last two decades.
Jim’s niece, Bill Jr.’s daughter Lesa, also seemed to prefer ISC, which she joined in 1983, right out of college. Her march to the top was built on performance — she became ISC’s president in 2003 and CEO in 2009, the year Forbes magazine named her “the most powerful woman in sports.”
It was largely Lesa’s work that led to the 2019 merger between NASCAR and ISC — the single most significant structural change in the organization’s recent history.
The ISC Merger: How NASCAR Took Control of Its Own Tracks
For most of NASCAR’s history, the sanctioning body and the track-owning company were technically separate entities — even though both were controlled by the same France family. That changed permanently in 2019.
NASCAR, via buying out its sister company, International Speedway Corporation, in 2019, now owns 11 tracks on the current and upcoming NASCAR Cup Series schedule. This list includes notable tracks like Daytona and Talladega.
When it merged with NASCAR, ISC owned 13 active tracks which collectively held 18 of the 36 events on the schedule of the NASCAR Cup Series. In addition to the stock car racing that NASCAR is famous for, ISC tracks also hosted IndyCar Series races, IMSA, Grand-Am, and various other motorsport events. The company’s other holdings included the Motor Racing Network, a radio network that broadcasts NASCAR events, and Americrown, a food service business.
By absorbing ISC, the France family simplified their corporate structure and consolidated all control — the rules, the races, and the real estate — under a single roof. NASCAR today is leaner, more unified, and more strategically coherent than it has ever been.
The other major track owner in NASCAR is Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI), which owns ten tracks on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule. SMI is owned by the Bruton Smith family — a separate billionaire motorsports dynasty with no ownership connection to the France family or NASCAR itself.
The $7.7 Billion Broadcast Deal: NASCAR’s Biggest Ever
The single most important financial story in NASCAR’s recent history is not a race win or a championship — it is a television contract signed in November 2023 that will define the sport’s economics for the rest of the decade.
NASCAR announced a new, seven-year media rights deal with four broadcast partners — Fox Sports, Amazon Prime, Warner Bros. Discovery, and NBC Sports — to carry live coverage of all NASCAR Cup Series races from 2025 through 2031. The new media rights deal is worth a total of $7.7 billion with an average annual value of $1.1 billion, up 40 percent from the previous media rights deal.
Fox will get 14 Cup races annually in the first half of the season, including the Daytona 500. After Fox, Amazon’s Prime Video will stream five events — marking the first time NASCAR’s premier series will be exclusively live-streamed. After Amazon, Warner Bros. Discovery will carry the next five Cup races. NBC Sports will complete the season with the final 14 races, including the championship finale.
Under NASCAR’s current charter deal with its Cup Series teams, TV revenue is split 65 percent for tracks, 25 percent for teams, and 10 percent for NASCAR. That revenue-sharing structure is critical — it is what funds the race teams, pays for the track operations, and sustains the entire ecosystem of American stock car racing.
How Much Is NASCAR Worth in 2026?
Exactly what NASCAR is worth would be a guess, but the media keeps referring to a 2023 analysis by Goldman Sachs that valued it at $5 billion.
The France Family’s net worth is estimated to be around $10 billion. The family’s assets include NASCAR’s extensive intellectual property, such as trademarks and broadcasting rights, valued at billions. They also own numerous racing tracks, including Daytona International Speedway, valued at over $400 million. Additionally, the family’s real estate holdings and personal residences contribute significantly to their net worth.
With a $7.7 billion broadcast deal now generating $1.1 billion per year through 2031, the $5 billion Goldman Sachs valuation may already be conservative. NASCAR produces consistent, predictable revenue from broadcast rights, sponsorships, track operations, licensing, and merchandise — the kind of diversified income stream that makes it extremely valuable and extremely stable.
The 2026 Season: What’s New
Entering the 2026 season, Kyle Larson is the defending Cup Series champion.
Prior to the start of the 2026 season, NASCAR announced that their postseason would revert to a format similar to the one used in 2004, in which a single points cutoff and reset would take place at the end of the 26-race regular season.
Freeway Insurance joined as a premier partner in 2026, replacing GEICO which had departed after the 2024 season. The NASCAR Cup Series trophy, previously called the MENCS trophy, is now officially named the Bill France Cup — a permanent tribute to the man who started it all.
NASCAR is privately and completely owned by the France family — specifically Jim France (54%) and Lesa France Kennedy (46%). There are no outside shareholders, no public stock, and no institutional investors. This is one family’s private company, passed down through three generations from Bill France Sr., who founded it in a Daytona Beach hotel room in 1948 with nothing but a vision for organized stock car racing.
Today, NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races annually, owns 11 major tracks including Daytona and Talladega, and generates $1.1 billion per year from its historic $7.7 billion broadcast deal with Fox, NBC, Amazon, and TNT. Goldman Sachs valued the entire organization at $5 billion in 2023, and the France family’s combined net worth sits at an estimated $10 billion.
From a seaside hotel meeting in 1948 to the most commercially powerful private racing organization in the world — the France family built this, and they are not done yet.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. Who owns NASCAR in 2026?
NASCAR is privately owned by Jim France (54%) and his niece Lesa France Kennedy (46%) — both members of the founding France family.
Q2. Is NASCAR a publicly traded company?
No. NASCAR is a 100% privately held company and has never been listed on any stock exchange.
Q3. Who founded NASCAR and when?
NASCAR was founded by Bill France Sr. on February 21, 1948, following a historic planning meeting at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Q4. How much is NASCAR worth in 2026?
A 2023 Goldman Sachs analysis valued NASCAR at approximately $5 billion, with the France family’s total net worth estimated at around $10 billion.
Q5. Who is the current CEO of NASCAR? Jim France, son of founder Bill France Sr., serves as Chairman and CEO of NASCAR since August 2018, when his nephew Brian France was arrested and stepped down.
Q6. How much is NASCAR’s TV deal worth?
NASCAR’s current broadcast deal runs from 2025 to 2031 and is worth $7.7 billion in total — averaging $1.1 billion per year across Fox, NBC, Amazon, and TNT Sports.
Q7. Does NASCAR own its racetracks?
Yes. NASCAR owns 11 tracks including Daytona International Speedway and Talladega, after absorbing International Speedway Corporation (ISC) in 2019. Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) independently owns 10 additional tracks.
Q8. Who are the biggest NASCAR Cup Series team owners in 2026?
The top team owners include Hendrick Motorsports (Rick Hendrick), Joe Gibbs Racing, Team Penske (Roger Penske), Trackhouse Racing, and 23XI Racing co-owned by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan.