Speedway LLC

This year will likely be transformative for Speedway, the retail arm of integrated refiner-marketer Marathon Petroleum Corp. In October 2019, Marathon Petroleum announced it would spin off Speedway into an independent, publicly traded company, creating the largest U.S.-listed convenience-store operator.

It made the move after a strategic review and pressure from New York-based shareholder Elliott Management for Marathon Petroleum to split into three independent businesses: refining, midstream and retail. The independent Speedway will consist of Marathon Petroleum's nearly 4,000 company-owned retail store operations, while Marathon Petroleum will keep its direct-dealer business. Speedway's spinoff is slated to be complete in fourth-quarter 2020.

Over the past year, Marathon Petroleum had pegged $500 million for investing in its retail segment in 2019, with a focus on rebranding stores from a series of acquisitions, growth in existing and new markets, dealer sites, commercial fueling/diesel expansion, store remodels and acquisitions. Most recently, the rebranding effort has included 33 NOCO Express sites acquired from NOCO Inc. in April 2019, and 285 SuperAmerica sites that came with Marathon Petroleum's 2018 acquisition of Andeavor. This is as Speedway's leadership has shifted from longtime president Tony Kenney, who retired in late 2019, to Timothy Griffith, its former CFO.

For benchmarking purposes, store counts are year-end 2019.