NASCAR faces a familiar challenge every fall as its Cup Series races compete for attention with the NFL. With football commanding a massive television audience, the scheduling overlap has become an important question for the sport’s future. Now, former FOX voice Kenny Wallace is weighing in on the debate, questioning whether NASCAR should continue racing on Sundays once the NFL season begins.

“It’s time for NASCAR to quit going head-to-head with football,” Wallace said on ‘Coffee with Kenny’ via X. “The NFL is a juggernaut. People are addicted to the NFL like they’re addicted to social media. I just don’t believe in ramming your head into something that you know is not going to help.”

Wallace believes the NFL’s established audience makes the scheduling conflict difficult for NASCAR. Football fans have predictable viewing windows, while NASCAR races frequently occupy those same Sunday hours. He also referenced recent comments from NASCAR Chief Operating Officer Ben Kennedy before explaining his proposal.

“Ben Kennedy came out about three weeks ago, and Ben Kennedy said, ‘We’re starting to look at not going head-to-head with the NFL’. Now, I know this is controversial what I’m going to say, but our season needs to end when the NFL starts. And that’s not just my idea; that’s Scott Ackerson’s idea,” Wallace added.

Wallace identified Ackerson as one of his former bosses at FOX and credited him with starting The NFL Today. He recalled the personalities associated with the program while explaining Ackerson’s position on NASCAR’s schedule.

“Scott Ackerson employed, along with Eric Schenck, the president. Those were my bosses. But he started NFL Today,” Wallace continued. “He had Jimmy Johnson, the football coach for the Dallas Cowboys, and Howie Long and Terry Bradshaw. And he says it on Kenny Conversation. He says NASCAR needs to stop racing when the NFL season starts.”

Wallace also pointed to the NFL’s predictable weekly schedule as a major factor in its appeal. He explained that NFL teams consistently play at specific times: 1 o’clock, 3 o’clock, or around 3:30. Wallace emphasized that fans know exactly when games will be played, and this consistency is a key strength of the league.

Wallace further noted that the NFL had essentially trained its audience through a rotating schedule of games. The league offers Thursday Night Football, Monday Night Football, and Saturday Night Football, giving viewers multiple opportunities to engage with the sport throughout the week.

He also highlighted the NFL’s international expansion ambitions, pointing out that the league was moving into overseas markets, including Paris, France. Wallace remarked that the NFL had stated that even civil unrest would not prevent them from playing games in Paris, demonstrating the league’s commitment to expanding its reach globally.

The viewership figures illustrate the challenge. During the opening weekend of the 2025 NFL season, CBS’s national Sunday afternoon window averaged approximately 23.9 million viewers. NASCAR’s Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway that weekend averaged approximately 1.525 million viewers on USA Network. 

NASCAR’s 2025 Cup Series season averaged approximately 2.48 million viewers, down from the previous year. Although broadcast distribution and viewing habits also affect these figures, the numbers highlight the difference in audience size.

NASCAR already started considering a change

Wallace’s comments come as NASCAR leadership has acknowledged the scheduling dilemma. Kennedy recently discussed the possibility of avoiding direct competition with NFL games as the sport looks toward its next media rights cycle.

Kennedy raised the question while discussing NASCAR’s longer-term plans.

“As we think about 2032 inventory, start dates, end dates, frankly, should we be going up against the NFL at this point of the year on every single Sunday?” Kennedy said. “It’s a challenging proposition.”

NASCAR’s current media rights agreements run through 2031, making the following cycle a potential opportunity to reconsider the calendar. Any change would need to account for broadcast commitments, track availability, weather, and commercial interests.

The idea also has precedent among drivers. In 2022, Chase Elliott questioned whether NASCAR needed to compete directly with football once the NFL season began.

“I don’t see any reason in competing against NFL football when that starts. In my opinion, that’s a battle we’re never going to win. I think we should be smart about that,” Elliott remarked.

Changing the schedule would not guarantee higher ratings. NASCAR would need to determine whether moving races away from NFL Sundays could attract more viewers without creating new scheduling problems. Still, the debate raises questions about whether the sport’s traditional calendar remains the best fit for its television audience.

For NASCAR, the challenge is deciding whether its traditional calendar still serves the sport’s best interests. Avoiding direct competition with the NFL would not guarantee a ratings rebound, but it could give the Cup Series a better opportunity to reach viewers during the fall.

With the next media rights cycle approaching, NASCAR will have to weigh the potential benefits of a scheduling change against the practical demands of its existing race calendar.