Kenny Wallace discusses his return to local level racing after becoming a NASCAR professional driver

Kenny Wallace recently shared his insights on an experience which most NASCAR drivers, current and former, would've most likely gone through. Wallace said local-level racers tend to dislike NASCAR drivers, which he experienced himself after competing in the big league.

Wallace is a 61-year-old professional stock car racing driver who competed in NASCAR for over two decades. While the driver didn't score a win in the Cup Series, he amassed nine wins, 66 top-5s, and 173 top-10s in the Xfinity Series.

In an episode of the Herm & Schrader podcast, Kenny Wallace told co-host Ken Schrader that local-level racers don't like NASCAR drivers.

"When you are a NASCAR driver, and you try to go race these guys on a local level, they do not like it," Wallace said.

The Missouri native then admitted feeling hurt about fellow racers hating him.

"When I came back here, they hated me. And it was a shocking blow to me. It hurt me. It really did," he added.

Wallace concluded by saying he later got the respect as a racecar driver after working on himself.

"Now, I'm not crying. I'm telling you why I work on my stuff myself. And now, all of a sudden, when I show up at the racetrack by myself, they finally see that I am a racecar driver," he said.

Kenny Wallace debuted in NASCAR in the late 1980s and won the Rookie of the Year award in the Busch Series, known today as the Xfinity Series. He retired from NASCAR in 2015 and became an analyst for Fox Sports.

Wallace frequently shares his thoughts on stock car racing-related topics on the Herm & Schrader podcast with fellow former NASCAR driver Ken Schrader. He has also kept his racing career intact, with the Gateway Dirt Nationals as his latest entry this month.

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Kenny Wallace points out fans' love-hate relationship with NASCAR

Kenny Wallace during the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway - Source: Imagn

Aside from Herm & Schrader, Kenny Wallace has his own show, "Coffee With Kenny", where he usually talks about controversial topics. Last week, the former driver pointed out the fans' love-hate relationship with NASCAR.

According to Wallace, fans seem to be on a trend of complaining about NASCAR but get mad when someone else does it.

The 63-year-old former driver cited the situation between 23XI Racing and NASCAR. He said fans criticize the league for how it governs the sport but defend it against 23XI when the team brings up the alleged unfair practices. He recently posted a video of the same on his X account.

"You got mad at 23XI because it's your NASCAR. Only you can talk bad about NASCAR, not 23XI," the former driver stated. [6:58]

Kenny Wallace also cited the diecast store owner who claimed NASCAR is dying after a lackluster sale on Black Friday. He said fans ridiculed the sport for declining TV viewership but slammed the store owner for his statement.

"The man says, 'NASCAR is dying. Nobody came to my store.' And all of you went to that man and you said, 'Buddy, what are you doing with a diecast store nowadays?'" Wallace shared. [7:11]

He concluded:

"You love NASCAR so much that you wanted to complain about it. But if somebody else complains about it, you're like, 'Woah, woah, woah.' Cause that's what happened.'" [8:44]

Wallace came to NASCAR's defense and said the league is growing as evidenced by the third-car expansion of 23XI Racing and RFK Racing, and the $7.7 billion media rights until 2031.