NASCAR’s facing a rough patch with attendance sliding at key tracks. Kansas Speedway’s playoff grandstands hit record lows in 2025, while Michigan International Speedway’s crowds have shrunk to about 50,000 from 150,000 in the old days.

Ticket prices, travel costs, and clashes with NFL games like the Chiefs’ home opener pulling fans away from Kansas have all piled on. Even crown jewels like the Daytona 500 still pack them in, but the rest? It’s a wake-up call for a sport chasing its shadow.

Now, ex-broadcaster Kenny Wallace is dropping a bomb, pinning the slide not just on the track but on America’s fading love for cars.

Wallace’s wake-up

In a fresh X video, Kenny Wallace cut to the chase: “Why do we make such a big deal out of crowds nowadays? Because people are in fear that racing is dying, and it is. For the most part, you just have to knit it and then move on. That’s why all the time I say you’ll never see 4 million viewers watching a NASCAR race again.”

Wallace nails the fear, with 2025’s New Hampshire Xfinity race scraping 1.29 million viewers, a 28% plunge from last year, and Kansas limping to 1.49 million from 1.79 million. The multi-million masses of NASCAR’s prime? Gone for good, he says, a stark stare-down with a sport that’s lost its mass-appeal magic.

He doubled down on the doubters: “And boy, I’ll tell you what, even the people that hate NASCAR. I say you’re not going to see 4 million viewers every single week ever again, and the people that even hate NASCAR, they were shocked that I said that.”

Even the haters blinked, stunned by the shift from 2.8 million average in 2015 to sub-1.5 million staples now. Nielsen’s needle dips as cable cuts rise, a cultural quake that catches critics off guard, proving the pain’s universal in a world where stock cars don’t stock shelves like they used to.

Wallace flipped the script on the blame: “They did reverse psychology on me. They go, ‘Yes, we will, it’s just all NASCAR’s fault, they’re not doing it right. They’ll get 4 million if they want to. But they’re bad.’ I’m like no. The car culture is dying a slow death.”

It’s not just bad calls or bland broadcasts; it’s America’s wheel love winding down, with fewer young guns grabbing keys. According to IIHS trends, licensed drivers under 25 are fading fast, as urban rideshares and electric everything erode the engine roar that fueled NASCAR’s fire.

NHRA drags and esports rev up while stock cars stall, a generational ghost that’s got Wallace calling it straight: the fault’s in the fuel tank of the nation, not just the garage. He wrapped the raw truth: “The car culture is dying slowly.” Fewer performance rides rolling off lots, car shows shrinking like old tires, households holding fewer wheels.

NADA data shows the dip, especially among the young. NASCAR is chasing millennials with streams and short tracks, but the core crowd’s cooling, a slow bleed that Wallace sees as the real wrecker. It’s not tweaks to the format or the field; it’s the heartbeat of hot rods fading, leaving the sport to hustle harder for hearts in a world that’s shifted gears.

Wallace’s gloom on NASCAR’s fade casts a long shadow over the Playoffs, but Joey Logano is staring down the cutline with a grin, seventh in standings and 24 points shy of the Championship 4, betting one ‘Dega dart could dodge the decline’s chill.

One win flips the playoff script

Last year’s Roval penalty gift from Alex Bowman handed him the Round of 8 door, then Las Vegas locked the lock-in, a blueprint he’s blueprinting for 2025, where spirit trumps stats in the superspeedway spin.

Logano’s ‘Dega ledger? Six wins across 91 starts, an 18.4 average finish that’s feast or famine, but he’s “cautiously optimistic” heading in. “We’ve led a lot of laps, won a lot of stages, and even a few races here,” he said.

“With that said, it’s also gone the complete opposite here, but I’m pretty sure that’s the same for everybody in the field at some point at Talladega. I feel confident in our ability and what we can do as a team, and I think we’re very ready for the race from that standpoint.”

He tempers the fire: “I feel like we’re the favorites to win this thing, but all it takes is one mistake or a mistake from someone else’s part, and all of a sudden, you’re spun around and backward. It happens really quickly here. So, like I said, I’m feeling cautiously optimistic.”

For Penske’s No. 22, it’s points over plunder. Top fives in stages and races could claw the gap, no luxury for gambles when the math’s merciless. Logano’s play? Stack steady, snag the shot if it swings, a mindset that mocks the malaise Wallace warns of, turning personal peril into playoff punch.

Wallace’s car culture dirge dooms the big picture, but Logano’s laser focus flips the frame. One rogue run at Talladega could crown a comeback, proving the fire’s not out yet. In a sport sliding from the spotlight, his cautious charge keeps the chase alive, a single spark in the slow death’s dusk.