Kenny Wallace Defends NASCAR’s Heel Turn to Crush His 65-YO Brother’s Daytona 500 Dream

Kenny Wallace was one of the first personalities to come out in defense of his brother Mike Wallace, whose age and ability were put into question ahead of the Daytona 500. Nick Bromberg, a journalist who covers multiple sports, was the one to ignite the spark that created doubts surrounding Wallace’s dream Daytona return. “Would not expect anything less out of you, Nick. You’ve always been a negative reporter.”

However, in a week there’s been a major plot twist with NASCAR cancelling out Wallace’s attempts to compete at the Great American race. Not just the Daytona 500, but all NASCAR events, as the 65-year-old wasn’t deemed fit to race in the Cup Series. He was unable to showcase his credibility on intermediate racetrack or speedways in the past few years. This was a gut punch to his mission of celebrating a Daytona 500 race with his family after his wife Carla’s death last year.

Mike’s brother Kenny Wallace did come out to share his take on this saga. But surprisingly, this time around he sided with NASCAR and highlighted his brother Mike’s crucial mistakes that led to this outcome.

Kenny Wallace feels Mike was late in announcing his Daytona 500 return

Now, NASCAR’s decision has left the racing community divided. The ones who disagreed with this call couldn’t wrap their heads around why the likes of Helio Castroneves are given priority over a veteran driver. Not only that, the new provisional rule will allow non-NASCAR drivers an opportunity to race in the future. This does seem murky, especially for those who’ve watched Mike Wallace race well at Daytona.

But Kenny Wallace thinks that his brother Mike failed to take NASCAR officials into confidence before announcing his return. “I think Mike announced this too late. I understand the executives are involved, but let’s face it. Those executives, they leave December 23rd, and they’re getting back from their ski trip, and I think Mike got lost by the executives… I really think if Mike had started this process earlier, it wouldn’t have gotten lost in the holidays, and he could’ve even pleaded his case.” He said this on his YouTube show.

Kenny Wallace even went on to share his experience when he was making a comeback to Cup racing, presumably the 2012 Daytona 500. He talked about how he convinced the executives at NASCAR about his experiences and even went through a two-week training program to be eligible for the race. “My wife, my mom, and myself put this beautiful biography together, sent it to NASCAR, and they said, wow we’ve never seen anything like this. You’re approved to come down and test. I’d already run Michigan Superspeedway in my ASA car, and I go down there, and I spend two weeks testing, and then they approved me.”

Well, with these dramatic changes in place, there might be a bigger loser right now than Mike Wallace. And that loser is MBM Motorsports. They were all set to roll out at the Daytona International Speedway with a veteran driver and the sponsors. But, without Wallace, they are now in deep waters, desperately looking for a NASCAR-approved driver and funding.

What will MBM Motorsports do next?

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Now we all know that NASCAR and MBM Motorsports owner Carl Long have a history. Back in 2009, NASCAR barred Long from racing in the Cup Series and fined him $200,000; this was the biggest fine at the time. What was Long’s fault that landed him in this huge trouble? Well, his engine was discovered to be 0.17 cubic inches over the regulation size during a practice session. Despite pleading his case, he wasn’t allowed to race until the fines were paid in full.

In 2017, he did reach an agreement with NASCAR and kick-started a new project with MBM Motorsports. His race team does field multiple cars across the calendar year, but their Daytona 500 feature is in shambles with Mike Wallace’s DQ. “For MBM, we must regroup at this late stage with the loss of our driver and sponsor for The Great American Race. Our team is working swiftly to sign another funded driver for Speedweeks in order to still attempt the 67th Daytona 500. Sponsorship opportunities remain with our No. 66 team: contact us at info@mbmmotorsports.com for more.” They shared this on X.

It is hard to see the likes of Jimmie Johnson or Martin Truex Jr. tie up with MBM for the big event. While they can rely on their ex-drivers like David Star or Josh Bilicki, it is hard to see them bring in sponsorship money on such short notice. So, they are against the odds to find a new driver who is NASCAR-approved and can also bring in the funds to race at the Daytona 500.