Nascar is not as popular in NYC as it is in most of the country, but honestly, even though I live in NY and work in NYC, I have heard just about as much about Nascar as the WBC. Diehard baseball fans like the people on these boards are interested in the WBC, but we are hardly a representative cross-section of the the US or even of sports fans. We are sick baseball fanatics. Ordinary people and normal fans in the US just don't care. The TV ratings have been and will bear out my observations.
BTW I'd rather watch Red Sox prospects at ST than trying to figure out which Lee is which while watching a game against South Korea. 5 Lees and 3 Kims, that was pretty wild.