Kenny Wallace is ‘wore out’ from dirt racing fans who hate NASCAR; Fans that could use that same energy to build up dirt racing
Kenny Wallace: “I think that dirt racing fans spend too much time trashing NASCAR.”
I feel his pain.
I hear people talk about the old days of NASCAR and I think they might have selective memory or just full on memory loss. People seem to remember the highlight reel and then think that’s how it was every weekend. But, that’s not the case (stats below).
This weekend, Kenny Wallace is heading to the dirt tracks of Lima Motorsports Park (June 8), Plymouth Speedway (June 9), Lincoln Speedway (June 10).
While he’s at the dirt tracks, Wallace is likely to come across a dirt racing fan who’ll see him as an outlet to talk negatively about NASCAR. But, you don’t have to do that. Kenny Wallace already has a response tee’d up for you…
“How come when I say something about NASCAR… My god you get 150,000 views or comments. But, how come when I say something about dirt or anybody. When we talk about dirt, nobody comments, nobody likes,” Kenny Wallace stated via one of his weekly viral videos.
“I was challenging the dirt fans to promote dirt racing. I think that dirt racing fans spend too much time trashing NASCAR. In the meantime, they lose fact that they need to be building dirt racing up.”
“All I do is promote dirt racing. I’m like, ‘How come none of you like or talk about dirt racing?’ Right away, a lot of their responses were so crazy…”
“They’re like, ‘We hate NASCAR!’ ”
“I’m going to say it again. You dirt racing fans don’t like posts of your local heroes. You just constantly spend time trashing NASCAR. My point was, lets all talk about dirt racing.”
“I don’t know. I don’t get it and I’m trying. I love dirt racing, I travel with our hauler and I spend thousands and thousands of dollars. I love dirt racing. I love the camaraderie the companionship.”
“It’s so much fun but I can’t get dirt racing fans to quit talking about NASCAR.”
What sparked this topic?
Two months ago, Kenny Wallace posted a video about NASCAR. The video went viral with 3,000 shares and 330k views. That video is posted below.
“I have been getting wore out about what’s wrong with NASCAR lately.”
“When NASCAR first came into the sport, there were three channels on TV. So, peoples brains were trained slower.”
“I mean, all the races, the guy that won the race — he had like a three lap lead. All the time.”
“Now, we got the cell phone. We got 500 channels on TV. If your phone takes too long to load, you freak out. If you got through McDonalds and it takes too long, you freak out.”
“To me, it’s a societal shift. I don’t think it’s what doing wrong. I think it’s that we want action right now!”
“Then you gotta remember, when Earnhardt passed away, that was it. Nowadays you get Jeff Gordon gone, Tony Stewart gone. It was kinda like the WWE back then. They were fightin’ and the fights back then, they meant something.”
“Now when they fight, it’s no big deal. Last year, Kyle Busch was bloody faced and everything. It last for about a week and it was gone.”
“No matter what NASCAR does, it’s wrong. The races are good. There’s 25 cars on the lead lap!”
NASCAR Stats
Is NASCAR broken?
I follow both NASCAR and dirt racing as well. I like both but I also love dirt racing. I’m standing in the corner with all you former NASCAR fans when it comes to the anti cookie cutter track movement. But, that’s also the only time I’m standing over there. NASCAR is far from broken.
Since this website covers both forms of motorsports, it creates an outlet for the dirt fans to beat up on NASCAR. On every NASCAR post, they’re here to tell the internet over and over that they aren’t watching anymore. I see the comments, “NASCAR died with Dale Earnhardt.”
Well, let’s see if that’s the case…
1970: In the 1970 season, no race finished with the entire top-10 on the lead lap. In fact, 19 races finished with just 1 car on the lead lap of the 48 NASCAR Grand National races that year.
1970 NASCAR Races (with 1 car on the lead lap): 1970 Savannah 200, Southeastern 500, Gwyn Staley Memorial 400, Columbia 100, Rebel 400, Beltsville 300, Langley Field 300, World 600, Maryville 200, Golden State 400, Hickory 276, Kingsport 100, Albany-Saratoga 250, Volunteer 500, Nashville 420, West Virginia 300, Southern 500, Homestate 200, Old Dominion 500
1980: Maybe I went back too far? Let’s try the 80’s…
Nope. Still, not a single race where the top 10 finished on the lead lap.
1980 NASCAR Races (with 1 car on the lead lap): Northwestern Bank 400, Nascar 400
1990: How about the 1990’s? Not really. There was only 10 races that saw the entire top-10 finish on the lead lap. Though, there also wasn’t a single race that featured the leader on his own lap. However, here were several that were close with just 2 cars finishing on the lead lap. NASCAR was making progress.
2000: How about the 2000’s? Again, not really. But, they were really moving in the right direction now. Yet, in the 2000 season, they were down to just 5 races where the whole top-10 wasn’t on the lead lap.
2017: The stats above show a consistent trend. From a statistical standpoint, NASCAR has never put on a better show. Let’s take a look at the numbers today.
Martin Truex Jr stunk up the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season winning 8 of 36 races. Surely NASCAR went backwards? Nope. Again, better than any year above.
Last year, they only had 3 races that saw drivers inside the top-10 a lap down to the leader. Statistically, it’s close to twice as good as any era listed above.
Only the All-Star race, Kentucky and Darlington saw 9 or less cars finish on the lead lap. In two of those races, exactly 9 cars finished on the lead lap.
These days, 100 million dollar race teams have created great disparity from the front of the field to the back. Despite that fact, the NASCAR field is racing closer than ever before in the history of the sport.
Kenny Wallace has a question for dirt racing fans?
What is wrong with NASCAR?
More
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