When Kenny Wallace revisited his comments about NASCAR never returning to its former heights, he reignited a larger debate about the sport's present ceiling and whether it even has one.The disagreement took shape when Wallace reposted his original post and wrote on X:"I've been trying to teach you all that nothing is big anymore. Only the NFL. SEE this picture."Wallace was pointing to what he's long believed, that NASCAR is no longer in its 200,000-fan grandstand era, and nothing in the modern media ecosystem, outside the NFL, is. But for Toby Christie, Editor-in-Chief of Racing America and one of the sport's most consistent digital voices, that realism was too close to resignation."I completely respect @Kenny_Wallace, but I have never been a fan of the giving up, 'we'll never see that again,' thought process in regard to #NASCAR's popularity. The sport can only go as big as you believe it can be. It was once MASSIVE and I fully believe it can be again," Christie wrote.Kenny Wallace had struck a nerve, but this time the exchange was rooted in data.NFL remains the undisputed giant of U.S. television. While its viewership dipped slightly in 2024 - from 17.9 million to 17.5 million viewers per game - it still accounted for 70 of the top 100 broadcasts in the country (per Reuters). Against that, NASCAR's figures are modest. The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series finale drew 2.92 million viewers, close to its 2023 numbers. For the full season, NASCAR averaged 2.87 million viewers (according to Blackbook Motorsport).That's roughly one-sixth of the NFL's average, and in purely TV terms, it underscores Kenny Wallace's claim that nothing in American sports comes close to touching the NFL. But within motorsports, NASCAR still leads and by a significant margin.Take the first weekend of August as a reference point:Formula One: 1.22 million U.S. viewers for the Hungarian Grand Prix - the second-highest audience for that event on ESPN.IndyCar: 0.98 million viewers for the Toronto race on Fox - its fifth straight race below the 1 million mark.NASCAR: 2.17 million viewers for its USA Network debut at Iowa - down from 2.7 million last year, but still nearly double the F1 number and well ahead of IndyCar.So while the sport isn't knocking on the NFL's door, it is still the king of American motorsport.That's where Christie's belief finds support. Unlike the NFL, NASCAR is actively growing in key demographics, particularly younger and digital audiences. But it's also trying to reconcile that growth with a slowly eroding traditional base.Kenny Wallace on NASCAR's 'embarrassing' identity crisisKenny Wallace in the Kenny Wallace show before the NASCAR Cup Series, Enjoy Illinois 300. Source: GettyAs NASCAR looks to cement its future, it's looking to rebrand. But not just visually. According to Ad Age's Ewan Larkin, NASCAR is now searching for a new lead creative agency to reconnect with its blue-collar foundation.The initiative, overseen internally and set to wrap by early September, includes 11 agencies currently in contention. The goal is to launch a campaign that debuts around the 2026 Daytona 500, centered around winning back the old fans."Some past efforts to reach younger and newer fans may have caused us to lose our way with our core fans," admitted NASCAR Chief Brand Officer Tim Clark (via Sports Buisness Journal)That admission led Kenny Wallace to say in his latest Coffee with Kenny episode:"I specifically addressed a situation that was embarrassing... NASCAR said they've hired a firm to help them how to go about communicating, winning back the old fans, the blue-collar fans. And I found that appalling... Oh my God, how embarrassing. You're admitting that you dumped the blue-collar fans, and now you've got to somehow win them over? This has been going on for 25 years." (6:20 onwards)Kenny Wallace isn't the only one who feels that way. There's a long-standing critique among longtime fans that NASCAR's push into new markets - road course races in Chicago and Mexico and even the Amazon Prime deal - has coincided with a hollowing out of its Southern grassroots appeal.But the executives argue that those efforts worked, at least with the demographics they targeted. Amazon and Netflix have increased NASCAR's reach to younger audiences. Road and street courses have expanded geographic diversity. Digital-first programming has made NASCAR more accessible globally than ever before.However, traditional fans often feel as though they're watching a different sport entirely. That's the paradox NASCAR now faces. Whether a new creative agency can bridge that divide remains to be seen.