Award-winning executive producer on “The Last Dance” and “30 for 30” set to lead
NASCAR Studios and NASCAR Digital Media teams
Daytona Beach, Fla. (April 11, 2024) – NASCAR today announced award-winning content executive John Dahl as its new Senior Vice President, Content, bolstering the sanctioning body’s efforts to further connect with current and new fans across the globe over a range of content platforms.
Dahl joins NASCAR after a decorated career at ESPN, where he ascended from a coordinating producer to become Vice President and Executive Producer for Special Projects, Films and Original Content.
Starting his new role on May 1, Dahl will drive the creative vision and oversee the teams responsible for all content generated by NASCAR Studios and NASCAR Digital Media across multiple business areas, including production, programming and operations. His scope will cover the full spectrum of long and short-form storytelling around all aspects of America’s leading motorsport, ranging from features, documentaries and branded content to social media, NASCAR.com and in-app executions for NASCAR’s primary and ancillary platforms. Dahl will report directly to Tim Clark, NASCAR Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer, and split his time between New York City and NASCAR’s newly constructed productions facility in Concord, N.C.
“NASCAR has an incredible opportunity to continue fueling its positive momentum with powerful storytelling that brings fans closer to everything that makes this sport so compelling, and there’s no one more proven or better equipped to deliver on that potential than John Dahl,” said Clark. “We’re thrilled to welcome John aboard and can’t wait for fans to experience everything he and his extremely talented NASCAR teammates have to offer.”
“Over the course of my career, I’ve been fortunate to experience firsthand NASCAR’s rich reservoir of characters and storylines, from the people behind the wheel all the way to the tracks and fans themselves,” said Dahl. “I’m excited to help build on the foundation of extraordinary content being created in and around NASCAR to give fans more reasons to engage, whether that comes in a TikTok video, a documentary project or anything in between.”
A winner of 11 Emmys and three Peabody Awards, Dahl was one of the original executive producers on ESPN’s renowned 30 for 30 documentary series and was also a lead executive producer on the most-viewed single documentary project in ESPN’s history – the Emmy-winning 10-part/10-hour series The Last Dance, which chronicled NASCAR 23XI Racing team owner Michael Jordan’s final championship season with the Chicago Bulls. Beyond these efforts, Dahl spearheaded a multitude of other notable film and documentary projects at ESPN, including capsule collections for the NBA’s 75th anniversary, the 150th anniversary of College Football, the SEC Storied franchise, ESPN’s Fifty/50 initiative commemorating the 50th anniversary of Title IX, and more.
No stranger to NASCAR either, Dahl served as a reporter at the Coca-Cola 600 for WBT Radio in Charlotte early in his career before going on to produce and oversee several documentary projects around the sport, including an extended feature on Richard Petty for CNN’s “The Sporting Life with Jim Huber,” as well as work at ESPN that included the Ultimate NASCAR anthology, the 30 for 30 documentary “Tim Richmond: To the Limit,” and the film “Wendell Scott: A Race Story.” He was also a consultant on the first season of Netflix’s 2024 docuseries, “NASCAR: Full Speed.”
Creative Artists Agency (CAA) assisted NASCAR in the hiring search, following a recently formed alliance between the two entities for representation in the content and media projects space.
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About NASCAR Studios
NASCAR Studios is the dedicated hub for developing world-class, on-demand content and dynamic storytelling executions on behalf of America’s No. 1 form of motorsports, including driver-focused social content, original docuseries, short films, branded content, podcasts and beyond. Credited projects include the 2024 Netflix docuseries NASCAR: Full Speed, USA Network’s Race for The Championship, the Sports-Emmy-Award-Winning Netflix documentary RACE: Bubba Wallace, and more.
About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) 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 (NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR Xfinity Series™, and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series™), four international series (NASCAR Brasil Sprint Race, NASCAR Canada Series, NASCAR Mexico Series, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series), four regional series (ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East & West and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour) and a local grassroots series (NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series). The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship™, the premier U.S. sports car series. NASCAR also owns Motor Racing Network, Racing Electronics, and ONE DAYTONA. Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, with offices in five cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races annually in 11 countries and more than 30 U.S. states.
For more information visit www.NASCAR.com and www.IMSA.com, and follow NASCAR on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X and Snapchat.
