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Don Hawk, who has served as senior vice president of business affairs for Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (NYSE: TRK) since 2014, has been named Chief Racing Development Officer for Speedway Motorsports, officials announced today.

The promotion, announced by Speedway Motorsports' President and CEO Marcus Smith, is effective immediately.

In his new role, Hawk will oversee racing operations, including areas of racing development, innovation and competition across all racing series at the eight Speedway Motorsports facilities. He will be responsible for working with key stakeholders and industry representatives to create exciting and competitive racing for drivers and fans across a variety of motorsports racing series, including NASCAR, NHRA, IndyCar, World of Outlaws, SCCA and more. Additionally, he will maintain his role as executive vice president for U.S. Legend Cars International, where he has worked for more than a decade to grow the grassroots racing series into an incubator for some of NASCAR's rising stars.

"From his 26 years of motorsports management experience at Dale Earnhardt, Inc., NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports, Don has an unwavering passion for our product and a truly unique understanding of what it takes to bring compelling racing to all levels of motorsports at our world-class facilities," said Smith. "I look forward to his work in this new role and his efforts to bring the very best competition to race fans across the country."

Hawk began his career in motorsports in 1992 as manager of Alan Kulwicki Racing and served as president of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. from 1993 until 2000. From 2000 to 2006, Hawk worked as a NASCAR consultant and NASCAR's director of regional racing development before joining Speedway Motorsports in 2007. He received U.S. Legend Cars International's O. Bruton Smith Award in 2012.