The NASCAR lawsuit is finally settled, and thanks to Michael Jordan and Co.’s efforts, the sport is moving into a revolutionary new era, where evergreen charters will finally be a reality. Over the last few years, NASCAR has made significant changes to the sport that haven’t gone down well with the fans.
One of the most critical voices of the sport, Kenny Wallace, recently took it upon himself to point out where NASCAR went wrong. And given his stature, the retired driver has remained in constant touch with the insiders of the sport, allowing him to assure fans that the changes they want are coming quickly.
Kenny Wallace Doesn’t Hold Back on NASCAR’s Shortcomings With a Positive Message for the Fans
For most of 2025, complaints from fans primarily centered on the broadcast quality of the races and the racing in general. Many thought that the next-gen car had failed to deliver the racing drama it promised, given the severe drop in the number of overtakes, and close-quarters racing was a concept that was beginning to fade.
Speaking in his most recent ‘Coffee with Kenny‘ episode, Wallace revealed the primary reason behind the lack of bumper-to-bumper racing. The 62-year-old revealed that it was because NASCAR had expanded to numerous 1.5-mile (and over) tracks, allowing for more space on the track for cars to maneuver through.
As a result, the cars would be spread all across the track, rather than drivers driving in close quarters.
“They built too many big, mile-and-a-half racetracks.” He added, “Back in the late ’80s early ’90s, we had the perfect amount of mile-and-a-half tracks. And all of a sudden, they said, ‘while we’ve got such a big crowd, we need more seats so we’ll build bigger racetracks.’ That was the wrong thing to do.”
Wallace detailed that instead of building bigger racetracks and stadiums, NASCAR should’ve just stuck with the tracks they had and built the seats up for the stadium to contain more people.
Moreover, even with the introduction of the new tracks, Wallace feels that eliminating tracks like Rockingham cost NASCAR dearly, given the kind of racing people got to witness there.
The other thing that Wallace feels NASCAR did wrong was that they got greedy. Different tracks have different approaches to ticket sales, and these approaches often do not align with what fans want.
Some tracks only allow for a three-day entry ticket, and some fans prefer a one-day admission. That way, a fan ends up paying the equivalent of three days’ price, only to go see racing on one day.
On the other hand, some tracks only sell day-specific tickets, requiring fans to purchase individual tickets for the entire racing weekend. The purchase ends up costing them more since clubbed weekend tickets generally tend to cost less than individual days’ tickets.
“You gotta buy the Truck ticket on Friday, you gotta buy the Xfinity ticket on Saturday, and you gotta buy the Cup ticket on Sunday. So, it just priced everybody out.”
Once Wallace pointed out the shortcomings, he wasn’t going to let the NASCAR fans walk away on a sad note. Constantly in touch with the insiders, the 62-year-old revealed that he knows that the management has been “humbled mightily.”
He further revealed that he knows “for a fact” that NASCAR will be going on a tour in 2026 to make things right. While a new media company has been hired to improve the sport’s image, Wallace has also offered his own services, should NASCAR need them, to help the sport turn the tide around with the assistance of several other respected entities in the sport.
