Kenny Wallace: I'm Still a Race Car Driver

Driver Kenny Wallace still works for four to five hours every day the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series takes the green flag for a race of a few hundred miles.

The big difference between the 43 cars battling for position and Wallace, however, is what truly nabs at the current Nationwide Series driver. Instead of being on track, Wallace sits in front of the cameras to tell the NASCAR nation about what will happen and what just happened on the track.

Such a role isn't all that bad, as Wallace told the NASCAR Scene, but its led to some terrifically disheartening experiences.

In an article posted to the Scene's website, Wallace talked about how some questions from fans can just make his blood boil -- though he'll easily shrug it off in his trademark easy-going and enthusiastic way:

"Hey, Kenny, we sure do love you on that TV," the fan will say. "Do you still drive?"

Wallace could scream. Oh, sure, he loves the compliment about his work on Speed, but it's an insult to his driving. [...]

"If I was young, I'd deny everything," Wallace said recently. "But I'm 45 years old now. I will tell you I will stand up on TV right in front of 3 million people and say, 'Look, I am a race-car driver, OK? I'm very grateful to be known as a famous TV commentator. But it just so happens that I'm here on this TV because I'm not racing today.'"

That's the reason why he got into TV work in the first place. And now, in some strange way, it has backfired on him.

"I started doing TV because I didn't have anything to do on those particular Sundays," Wallace said. "I would stay around the race track and do TV. I had no idea that I would be so popular for TV.

"Maybe it's because I need therapy over it, but it offends me. I would rather be more popular for driving [a] race car than [that] I do TV. But I'm still grateful for it."

Can you really blame the guy? I know I can't.

Wallace didn't grow up in Missouri as the younger of his Sprint Cup champion brother Rusty and successful oldest brother Mike to be a TV personality. He worked on race cars and drove them to reach the pinnacles of stock car racing, not to sit behind the camera and discuss it.

But Wallace's infectious everyman personality with a laugh distinguishable from across the infield at Bristol meant fans wanted to see more of him and could relate to him. He's about as good as a driver commentator can get in multiple aspects.

On top of that, its not that Wallace hasn't produced some good results in the past few years as a consistent fixture in the Nationwide Series. In fact, after four races in 2009 his efforts with a relatively small team without the influence of a Sprint Cup operation have left him 9th in the Nationwide Series standings.

Wallace can get it done in NASCAR, but just like so many other drivers, the equipment he's raced with hasn't always panned out or left a good taste of Kenny's talents in the mouths of potential owners. Watch him on a dirt track, though, and you'll know that Wallace's problem isn't natural talent.

I like having Kenny as a part of the NASCAR community, but this day and age of the sport doesn't look good for him to step up to a competitive Sprint Cup ride in the near future. In the meantime, and to the chagrin of the the always grateful Wallace, the best example of Kenny Wallace as a driver will be on Saturdays, not Sundays.