Dale Earnhardt Jr. defends Fox Sports amidst criticism over ‘loaded commercials’ during Atlante race broadcast

NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. has shared his feelings about the commercial controversy in Fox Sports coverage of Atlanta Cup race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. defends Fox Sports amidst criticism over ‘loaded commercials’ during Atlante race broadcast

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Via abc30)

Over the years, one of the biggest criticism NASCAR broadcasters have gotten from the fans has been the likes of Fox Sports and NBC loading the live coverage with commercials. The former that broadcast the first half of the season, including the iconic Daytona 500, often gets the most criticism for it.

This Sunday saw the Atlanta Motor Speedway hosting Ambetter Health 400 and the race featured some wild moments. The fans who were watching the races via Fox wasn’t happy about the number of times the coverage was disrupted due to commercials breaks. They called Fox and NASCAR out via social media.

YouTube video

A fan brought in Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the conversation, asking him for his opinion on the social media controversy when posted on X about Carson Hocevar’s racing. He came in Fox defense highlighting how the commercials are part of the broadcasting deal, and how they are having more breaks at the start of the race to have coverage without it towards the end of the race.

FS Video

Maybe they have the commercials front loaded to give us more racing later… also when the first stage doesn’t have cautions it can back the broadcast into a corner on getting all those breaks in. Theres an agreed upon number of breaks no matter what.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wrote on X.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. hails the racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway

In another post on X, Junior highlighted how much he likes the racing product at Atlanta. He pointed out that the track is special, it demands more mental toughness from the drivers and always keeps the fans on the edges of their seat.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Via NASCAR.com)

Man this racetrack has something special… I’m tensed up! What these drivers are doing is so mentally tough. Feels like everything is on edge.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wrote on X.

The Hall of Famer coming into the weekend had also praised the reconfiguration at Atlanta and how it changed racing. AMS has proved it deserves to have place in the schedule and barring some unnecessary wrecks, it always hit the mark in terms of entertainment.