Dale Earnhardt Jr. is getting tired of ‘complaining about NASCAR races’ every week
The Martinsville Cup race has been widely criticized for its lack of action and showcased the growing concerns about the Next-Gen car short track package.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Credits: IMAGO)
Complaining about the racing product every weekend has become a trend in the NASCAR community, according to Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. The JRM owner was discussing the Martinsville Cup race of last weekend on his podcast and had similar complaints about the race lacking green flag passes, thus being less entertaining.
Dale Jr. came out and questioned the poor attitude drivers have regarding race product. He said, “I’m getting really exhausted with the feeling that every week we got to fix something. I feel like every single week, we watch a race, and we come out of that race, and instead of going, ‘Man, that was awesome, an incredible race, that track delivers, that was a hell of a battle.’ Instead, we come out of there and go, ‘Man, that sucked. We need to fix this. We don’t need this anymore,”.
He went on to question himself for invoking such criticisms and asked whether his feelings about the races are really due to there being an issue that needs fixing. He added, “And I’m doing it, too, right? I’m guilty of sitting there going, ‘God darn, it was awesome, but I didn’t like this part.’ And I don’t know whether that’s because there’s truly some problems that need fixing or that’s just the new norm in terms of how we react or how I react,”.
He went on explain that races with fewer passes have always been part of NASCAR races in Martinsville for as long he can remember. He said that in the 1970s and 80s, the races didn’t even was more spread than what it is now. He added, “I don’t know that the sky is falling in terms of the short-track package,”.
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NASCAR broadcast might be guilty of such growing concerns
The broadcast of NASCAR Cup races in 2023 has been a matter of discussion though out the 2023 season, with the advertisement breaks during races being the main issue. At the same time, Dale Jr. had another point associated with the race coverage to discuss. He suggested that the TV broadcasts mostly cover the race leaders and are missing out on important battles and passes that are taking place elsewhere from the leading pack. This alters the fans’ emotions when watching the race on TV.
“Certainly, we knew what was happening up front. Nobody’s passing the leader. That’s a problem. But maybe there was a lot of great racing that we didn’t get exposed to through the broadcast, and so we react accordingly. I didn’t see a lot of racing. I didn’t see a lot of action. I didn’t like what I saw,” Dale Jr. said.
“I’m asking people to have a little grace in the idea that yes, there might have been much passing in the field that we didn’t witness, we didn’t know or realize. Maybe if you were there in person you might have had a different reaction to a race than someone who watched if from their couch,” Dale Jr. added.
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Justin P Joy
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