“I Saw the Tide Change”: “HMS Fanboy” Dale Earnhardt Jr Feels There Is More Than Meets the Eye About Hendrick Motorsports–NASCAR Penalty Narrative

The recent penalties issued by NASCAR to Hendrick Motorsports and Kaulig Racing have made headlines in the racing world. According to the penalties, each crew chief has been fined $100,000 and suspended for four races, and each team has been docked 100 team and driver points along with 10 playoff points.

However, former Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr feels that there is more to this story than meets the eye. In a recent conversation, he explained that when the penalties were first announced, public opinion was that the teams were guilty. But as more information came out, including details from HMS and Kaulig Racing, he saw things changing a little bit in terms of how people perceived the penalties.

Why Dale Earnhardt Jr thinks HMS and Kaulig Racing’s penalty appeals are fair?

In a recent episode of The Dale Jr. Download podcast, Dale Jr sat down with co-host Mike Davis to discuss the penalty debate involving HMS and Kaulig Racing in detail. He also referred to how the public opinion regarding his take on the issue during the previous episode was critical, owing largely to his previous association with HMS.

Dale Jr said, “So HMS and Kaulig are appealing their penalties. We had our own take on that last Thursday. So after the penalties come out, the feedback that I was gettin’ immediately from our comments was, ‘Oh, y’all just love HMS; you’re just an HMS fanboy; you used to race for them and your always gonna be in their corner.'”   

Mike Davis interjected, “Yeah I think it’s fair,” and Junior agreed.

He further added, “I think in the details of HMS, and what they think happened, and that the issues that they perceived going on with the parts […] Kaulig coming in and basically backing all the information up with their own opinions about the part supplier; they had one louver taken, one was okay.

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“So I think that this really, this I feel more … I feel better about their chance to win or change their penalty than, than the Denny penalty.” Denny penalty being NASCAR’s $50,000 penalty issued to Denny Hamlin for intentionally wrecking Ross Chastain at Phoenix Raceway.

Dale Jr also believes that public opinion is changing as more information emerges

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Dale Jr’s belief that public opinion is changing largely rests on the fact that Kaulig Racing backed up the information regarding the parts and the issues they had with them.

He observed, “As more information came out and HMS and Kaulig were speaking in the media this weekend, it seems to be sort of splitting public opinion 50–50 on who’s right and who’s wrong and what might happen here.”

While the situation seems complicated and controversial, it is important to note that the penalties were given for unapproved modifications of a single-source vendor-supplied part. NASCAR has levied the penalties in line with the NASCAR Rule Book; especially Section 14.5.4.2.A, which deals with how the radiator duct is assembled. For unapproved parts modifications that took place the previous weekend at the Phoenix Raceway, these violations were given a Level 2 penalty.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr believes that there is more to the story and is interested in seeing how it all plays out. “I saw the tide change a little bit in terms of how people perceive how this might go, which was kind of interesting to me,” he stated. Only time will tell what the final outcome will be.