NASCAR: Series Is at a Crossroads for Survival

Kenny Wallace has a lot to say about the state NASCAR today, as Formula 1 makes major inroads into America and the series keeps coming up with one new gimmick after another, which turns off its fans.

Sadly, Wallace fears that NASCAR won’t be safe for much longer, as the future doesn’t look as bright as it did when he or his brother Rusty were racing. He said as much recently while serving as a marshal at the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester, Virginia.

“First of all, we need all hands on deck because our sport has been in trouble for quite a while,” Wallace said. “I don’t want NASCAR’s job right now because we are in a big societal shift. The whole world is changing, and not just the sport.”

Wallace said there are more questions rather than answers about the sport, which has seen a decline in attendance and TV viewing in the last 8 years or so.

“What are they going to do?” Wallace said. “Are they going to be able to weather the storm? Is somebody going to buy them out and do new ideas? Will the sport be unrecognizable?”

“I think right now we are at a pivotal point in NASCAR history — whether our sport is going to survive or not,” Wallace said. “Right now, how much money are they going to get with the TV negotiations? Are Fox and NBC going to step up and give them the same money?”

“After Kyle Larson won the NASCAR Championship a couple of years ago, they asked him, ‘What was the biggest surprise? Was it everything you thought it was going to be?’ He said, ‘No, I can still walk down the street and nobody knows who I am.’ That hit a big thud over everybody,” Wallace said.

“Listen, I love NASCAR,” Wallace said. “It made me who I am and made me a lot of money. … I’ve told them, I’ll do anything I can to help. But, I’m worried about them, like everybody else is.”