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NASCAR in Philly? Pocono Raceway’s President Says Those Comments Were Taken Out of Context

By Kyle Pagan

Published: Jun 25th, 2025 · 3:33 PM EDT

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The Men at Work Podcast was at Pocono Raceway this weekend where we got to talk to the President, Ben May. Of course we asked about the head of NASCAR saying they wanted to put on a race in Philly. May didn’t think that was the case:

Here’s Steve O’Donnell’s comments via Mason Smith at The Pocono Record:

“Pocono has delivered for us in terms of fans, but when you look at opportunities, one of the places we looked was Franklin Field,” O’Donnell said. “It was one of the only places we could’ve put a race track inside. Those are the type of things that, within a city, we’re gonna look at.

“The days of just building a rural track are over, but if we can build a track with some real estate development around it and partner with some people, we’re gonna look at major cities and bring the product to the fan base within the city as well.”

I can see where May thought people might’ve misconstrued those thoughts. They looked inside Franklin Field. Nowhere did he say they were bringing NASCAR to Philly.

But that doesn’t mean there are conversations ongoing. Governor Josh Shapiro mentioned that there are conversations happening around bringing a NASCAR race to Philly, according to Dan Gelston at NBCPhiladelphia.com:

“There’s some conversations,” Shapiro said. “First and foremost, we don’t want to do anything that undermines Pocono. But as Ben (says), the more NASCAR the better. The more racing, the better. The more we can turn people on in communities that haven’t been to Pocono yet, to get excited about racing, and then make that trip to Pocono next year, the better. I want to see more NASCAR, more racing. I also just want to see more sports in general.”

The more NASCAR the better, but we gotta get it on a street style course. That one I proposed in the clip from the Art Museum to City Hall would be sick! Another one would be up Pattison and around FDR or incorporating Broad Street somehow. Anywhere but Franklin Field. Let these souped up monsters loose on the Parkway straightaway where champions parade.

Check out the rest of the conversation with Ben on YouTube, Apple, or Spotify below! Some good guests on this one including an AI venture capitalist and content creators from around PA: