“Many fans misinterpreted his comments and overreacted”: Influencer addresses fan outrage over NASCAR COO Steve O’Donnell’s AI statement

NASCAR has agreed to revisit its controversial playoff format that crowned Team Penske’s Joey Logano, the Cup Series champion, despite him finishing 15th in the regular season point standings. According to Chief Operating Officer Steve O’Donnell, the sport could leverage AI to evaluate its current playoff format.

This is what O’Donnell told the Sports Business Journal:

“When we created even the stages or playoff format (years ago), you did that with the best data you had and best minds you had, but now being able to plug in and work with AI in terms of, ‘OK, if you tweak the playoffs this way, what should we be watching out for?’ or ‘How could that affect the sport?’”

“There’s so much data and technology out there that you can throw into a model. I think it’s going to be very helpful in looking at some predictive analysis of where the sport can go in the future and then there’s the whole business side of things too,” O’Donnell added.

However, many fans seemed to have misinterpreted O’Donnell’s statements. They thought that NASCAR would just follow a playoff format suggested by AI. Instead, what NASCAR aims at is to use an AI model to work out algorithms that will help the officials determine the best way to go about the 10-week-long postseason.

Renowned YouTuber and NASCAR analyst Eric Estepp addressed the issue in one of his latest videos and said,

“He's (O’Donnell) not saying Chat GPT is going to spit out a whole new playoff format. He's saying that NASCAR will use algorithms to test out playoff formats they come up with.” (5:18)

“I am in no way championing the overuse of AI,” Estepp continued. “I'm just contextualizing Steve O'Donnell's quote. I think many fans misinterpreted his comments and overreacted quite frankly. I don't think what he actually said should be nearly as controversial as many are making it out to be.” (6:00)

That being said, the regular season begins on Sunday, February 2 with the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. Fans can watch the 200-lap race live on FOX or listen to radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio from 8 pm ET onwards.

NASCAR adds three tracks to its 2025 playoff schedule

The 2025 playoffs will feature Darlington Raceway, World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, and New Hampshire Motor Speedway on its schedule. For Darlington, however, hosting the playoff-opening race is not new.

The “Lady in Black” has been hosting the Round of 16 opener since 2020, but last season, the 1.366-mile racetrack hosted the regular season finale. This was because of the Summer Olympics that pushed the season longer by a couple of weeks.

On the other hand, World Wide Technology, which debuted in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2022, will host its first playoff race next year. Named Enjoy Illinois 300, the 240-lap race will stream live on CW on September 7 from 3 pm ET onwards.

Coming to New Hampshire, the 1.058-mile oval speedway has previously held races during the postseason, but that was until 2017. Next season, New Hampshire Motor Speedway will host the Round of 12 opener scheduled for September 21.