Something about NASCAR feels hopeful this year. Be it the Chase format coming back or the Daytona 500 viewership number being at a three-year high, stock car racing seems to be on the rise towards the mainstream again, a place it hasn’t experienced since the days of the great Dale Earnhardt. But is the time now for NASCAR to make a big swing at a bigger pie? One look at a recent incident involving Kenny Wallace, along with other factors over the last few years, could lead to an answer to the question.

NASCAR veteran discovered more than just the ‘Green Hell’ in Germany

The former NASCAR driver recently took a trip to Europe. Along the many stops on his way, one was Nürburgring, the iconic racetrack which is also known as ‘Green Hell’ because of its intense layout and the lore around it.

Wallace put up a post on his social media where he revealed he paid $2500 for 6 laps of the track. Following his experience, he claimed Nürburgring was the ‘scariest racetrack he’s ever been on’ in his life, putting it above Darlington. He claimed it was because of how narrow the racetrack is, almost like ‘a hallway.’

The NASCAR veteran later remarked that he never thought the simple post of him announcing he’s racing at Nürburgring would reach so many people. “With all my heart, I can promise you. When I made this simple post, I never dreamed it would get well over 500,000 views. I was just sharing what I was up to,” Wallace wrote.

His post on X is currently over 700,000 views.

Wallace also posted about his experience of visiting the National Auto Museum in Germany, owned by a self-made billionaire and car collector. And one of the cars in the collection was a Dale Earnhardt-driven racecar from IROC, and one by Jeff Gordon.

Upon recognizing the NASCAR influence in Germany, Wallace made a call to Ray Evernham, who confirmed he sold those two cars to the museum.

This indicates that NASCAR’s interest is growing in Europe and that to significantly.

Garage 56 had the whole world of motorsports taking note of a stock car in France

In 2023, a modified Next Gen car, a Chevy Camaro ZL1 fielded by Jimmie Johnson, Jenson Button, and Mike Rockenfeller, entered the 24 hours of Le Mans. It was done on the special occasion of NASCAR completing 75 years and also Le Mans completing 100 years.

The entry immediately struck not just with NASCAR fans but with fans who weren’t familiar with stock car racing. Le Mans usually consists of LMP2, LMP3, and Hypercar classes. But having a beefed-up Next Gen stock car left many impressed and amazed.

IMSA President Jack Doonan revealed the positive reception NASCAR had gotten at Le Mans. “My phone keeps buzzing. Every time I look down, someone has written about it or posted pictures and videos. It really is amazing,” he said.

Seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson also revealed how the positive fan reaction left him touched. “The fan reception – whether it was at the parade, or on the cool down lap just now. Even the corner marshals were going nuts. Everything was just incredible. My bucket is full. I’m really happy,” he said.

But it was Jenson Button, the former Formula 1 champion, who shared the Garage 56 seat with Johnson, whose comments led to a big what-if, along with his own interest in NASCAR.

Former F1 champ was convinced NASCAR needs to head for Europe

Following 2023’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, Jenson Button claimed NASCAR’s success in France should push the governing body to weigh in on holding a race across the Atlantic.

“I think there needs to be a way to get the European fans to understand the personalities within the sport, as much as enjoying the racing,” Button said. “I think it could be big, and doing a race in Europe next year would be great.

“You gotta jump on what we did at Le Mans, and I think it had such a big following – I saw so many memes, and it went crazy on social media. It could be easily forgotten, so I think it needs to be jumped on as soon as possible.”

To Button’s point, the reach numbers of the Garage 56 program were pretty impressive. Reportedly, there were nearly 13,000 pieces of coverage in print and online combined, as well as 33.4 million social media impressions.

Then there’s the factor of several F1 stars and stars from other forms of racing leagues in the world flocking to NASCAR to get a taste of stock car racing in the past few years. Button himself ran in 3 Cup races in 2023.

His former rival and 2008 F1 champion with Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonnen, ran a couple of road course races in 2022 and 2023. Kamui Kobayashi ran two races between 2023 and 2024.

And most notably, Shane Van Gisbergen of V8 Supercars fame ran a race in 2023, won on debut, and pursued his itch for NASCAR to the point where he’s now a full-time driver in the Cup Series, currently ranked 14th in points.

Gisbergen’s full-time status and even the part-time stints of former F1 drivers have all contributed to a new set of audience from a different part of the world taking an interest in the sport.

And fans taking an interest in NASCAR could be a key factor, considering the state of the global motorsports landscape as of now.

F1’s loss could be NASCAR’s gain

Earlier this year, Formula 1 debuted its new regulations, which introduced a battery boost system and took off the DRS system. But notably, it is the 50-50 power split between the 1.6L V6 engine and the 350kw energy from the battery.

This has led to a drastically different experience not just for the drivers, who have been pretty vocal against the regulations, but also for the fans, who believe that F1 has taken a massive step back. In fact, Max Verstappen, who has been the biggest critic of the regulations, claimed that fans who like the new regulations don’t ‘understand racing.’

Now, this growing distaste among F1 fans who long for the sounds of the internal combustion engines, the smell of gasoline, and the overall tactile experience of racing is a demand that NASCAR can fulfill. The Cup cars are currently powered by a 5.86L naturally aspirated V8 engine, which can get plenty loud. NASCAR also increased the horsepower for this year from 670 to 750, along with notable changes to the aero package.

All of these factors, the general interest in NASCAR’s past and present, star drivers from other series, F1’s appeal in decline, and NASCAR’s going up could all be considered enough reasons for the sport to swing for the fences again.

Now, whether or not NASCAR capitalises on the opportunity, that is something only time will tell.