Kenny Wallace drops 5-word verdict for NASCAR as Christopher Bell’s COTA victory ropes in more than 4 million viewers

Former NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace praised NASCAR on social media for Sunday's Cup Series race at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) after the TV rating saw a 25 percent increase from last year.

The race was the most-watched sporting event of the weekend with over 4.1 million people watching the live broadcast on FOX. Last year, the COTA race drew in an average viewership of 3.31 million. Christopher Bell pulled off the win at the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix in a thrilling finish, making it back-to-back wins in the Cup Series. The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver fought an exciting battle with William Byron, Tyler Reddick, and Kyle Busch during the final laps.

Wallace shared his response to FOX's post on X about the strong COTA viewership.

"NASCAR is doing REALLY GOOD," Kenny Wallace wrote.

Overall, the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season averaged over 5.2 million views in the first three races on FOX. This was an increase of six percent from last season's average.

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"Every race is like a photo finish or they're all on top of each other" - Kenny Wallace on 2025 NASCAR Cup season

Kenny Wallace competed in NASCAR for over 25 years between the late 1980s and mid-2010s. He made the most starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series ever at 547. The 61-year-old retired in 2015 after collecting nine wins in the series and later worked as a NASCAR analyst for FOX Sports.

During the latest episode of 'Coffee with Kenny,' Wallace spoke about the recent surge in excitement and close finishes in NASCAR, including the Ambetter Health 400 last month. Christopher Bell won at Atlanta Motor Speedway after starting in 32nd. He led the last lap and finished ahead of Carson Hocevar and Kyle Larson in overtime after NASCAR threw a caution flag on the final lap which ended a dramatic three-wide photo finish.

"What's the story with NASCAR right now? I mean they went to Bowman Gray, went to Daytona, went to Atlanta and now Circuit of the Americas and every race is like a photo finish or they're all on top of each other," Kenny Wallace said(03:50).

"Why do you think NASCAR is doing so much better right now? TV ratings are up, stands look good, that is the big story in the garage area right now, NASCAR's on top...Why NASCAR is doing so much better right now? I don't know," he added (05:10 onwards).

The NASCAR Cup Series exhibition race at Bowman Gray Stadium ended with Chase Elliott winning after a dramatic run with friend Ryan Blaney and finished 1.333 seconds before Blaney.

The season-opening Daytona 500 also saw a multi-car wreck in the final lap that took out leader Hamlin and several others in the front. William Byron ended up winning the race by just 0.113 seconds and secured his second Daytona 500 win in two consecutive years.