NASCAR veteran recalls major aspect behind the sports’ success from the good old days

As a sport, NASCAR has come a long way since the 2000s, when the Cup Series featured legendary drivers like Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, and Jeff Gordon. However, what Kenny Wallace misses the most from the 2000s is perhaps the crowd that used to show up for NASCAR RaceDay, a pre-race TV show built by Home Depot.

Kenneth Lee Wallace, also known as Kenny Wallace, is a former NASCAR driver. In a career spanning over two decades, he ran 904 races in NASCAR’s premier series and won nine of them. Following his retirement in 2015, Wallace served as a reporter for Fox until 2018. Today, he is one of the most well-known figures in the world of motorsports.

Wallace recalled being among the panel of hosts in an episode of NASCAR RaceDay from 2008. Presented by Fox and Fox Sports 1, known as Speed Channel at the time, the show used to make each race seem like the biggest event in the country.

Talkin’ NASCAR on X (formerly known as Twitter), recently uploaded a short clip from the episode that had Wallace in it alongside co-hosts John Roberts and Jimmy Spencer. The 61-year-old NASCAR vet shared the post and captioned it, saying,

“Those crowds were so big.”

As per a story by the Daily Downforce, FOX canceled all pre-race shows, including NASCAR RaceDay last year. That was also around the time when renowned journalist Kelly Crandall of RACER reported that NASCAR Race Hub, another fan-favorite show on FS1, would discontinue permanently.

There have been rumors about the show’s studio version returning on air from 2025 onwards. As part of NASCAR’s newest media deal, Fox and FS1 will cover the first 14 Cup Series races of the upcoming season. The first race of the year, although not a point-paying one, will kick off on February 2 at the historic Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

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Kenny Wallace claps back at “negative” NASCAR reporter

Kenny Wallace announced his brother Mike Wallace’s NASCAR return through a recent episode of “Kenny Conversation.” The 65-year-old ex-NASCAR driver will attempt to qualify for this year’s Daytona 500 with the No. 66 Ford Mustang under the banner of MBM Motorsports.

Reporter Nick Bromberg was somewhat skeptical about it. He tweeted,

“I'm sure this will be controversial, but a 65-year-old who hasn't competed in a Cup Series race or a top-3 series NASCAR race on an oval since 2015 and last raced in a top-3 series NASCAR race overall in 2020 probably shouldn't get automatic approval to attempt the Daytona 500."

Kenny Wallace wouldn’t let that slide. He responded to Bromberg's comments, saying,

"Would not expect anything less out of you, Nick. You've always been a negative reporter."

That being said, the crown jewel race will begin from 8 pm ET onwards. Fans can watch it live on FOX or listen to radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.