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Brian France attends Drivers Council meeting; talks privately with Tony Stewart

The NASCAR Drivers Council met Friday night at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and for the first time since its inception the meeting was attended by NASCAR Chairman Brian France.

NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France

NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France

NASCAR Media

Brian France, CEO and chairman of NASCAR
Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet and Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
NASCAR CEO and Chairman Brian France
Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing Toyota and Carl Edwards, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Brian France, chairman & CEO of NASCAR, speaks onstage at the NMPA Myers Brothers Awards Luncheon
Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing
Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet
Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet
Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet

"It was good to have Brian in there. It was a shame he couldn’t stay a little bit longer,” said reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch. NASCAR officials said France had a previously-scheduled commitment in the evening and couldn’t stay when the meeting went much longer than planned. 

“It was nice to have him at least for the start and see what some of our expectations were and some of the things that we have on our side that we’re looking to improve on to improve the sport, for the fan experience and the driver experience and the team experience,” Busch said.

It was important for the guys to hear directly from him (Brian France)

Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR's executive vice president

Generally, NASCAR’s representatives on the drivers council are NASCAR’s chief marketing officer, Steve Phelps, and Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer.

“From our perspective, it was a great open dialogue. That is always good and it continues to get better and better,” O’Donnell told Motorsport.com on Saturday. “The message we left with the drivers was that we want to continue to build their trust in us. It’s being built up more and more.

“We came in the first time and we didn’t know how it should work. Last night we thought it would end at 7:30 p.m. and the drivers wanted to keep going, so we did.”

Important to have France there

O’Donnell said Brian’s attendance – which France requested – was important for both sides.

“It was important to us on the NASCAR side to show that we believe in the process and to talk to the drivers so they better understand why we do some of the things that we do,” O’Donnell said.

“It was important for the guys to hear directly from him. It was important for the drivers to have that connection with him in a casual environment. There are things we need to get better on. It’s great to have everybody’s perspectives.”

NASCAR spokesman David Higdon also confirmed France and Tony Stewart met privately before the council meeting. “It was a very productive meeting and Brian said he felt good about it and was glad they could get together,” Higdon said.

Stewart was fined last week $35,000 for criticizing NASCAR’s safety efforts in regards to how it policies its lug nut rule on pit road. On Friday, Stewart was still questioning why he was fined when the policy ended up changing.

The nine-member drivers council met for more than three hours Friday night and while all sides agreed the meeting was “productive,” Busch said it was “long.”

“There are a few things we need to cut out of it. It’s a little redundant sometimes when we go through it over and over and over again,” he said. “Some of that is a little pointless, but the rest of it was good.”

Harvick "excited" about the open dialogue

Former series champion Kevin Harvick said after the meeting he believed things were “moving in the right direction.”

“I’m excited about all the groups working together and trying to create a better and more positive direction from the competition side to make the cars put on as good a show as possible,” Harvick said.

“That’s the great thing about the group we have – you can say what you want to say amongst all the drivers on the council and you’re not going to offend anybody. Everybody has an open mind about pushing the sport in a better direction on any subject.

“It’s definitely not a situation where you hold back because you’re worried about offending somebody. It’s a definite open forum and that makes it very productive and a lot of fun, too.”

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