This week has been a wild ride on the NASCAR bandwagon. Ricky Stenhouse Jr’s unexpected punch to Kyle Busch’s cheek set off a whirlwind of events. The fight ended bitterly between the No. 47 and the No. 8 teams. Then, in three days, NASCAR brought the hammer down on Stenhouse and his crew with severe penalties. This irked a vast swathe of fans and veterans like Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Dale Jr had supported more such bullring fights to emerge in races. However, that counters his approach toward his own racing series, the CARS Tour. Recently, the popular icon explained the logic behind this conflicting stance.

Dale Earnhardt Jr’s justification for these Cup Series fights

Before the 2023 season, the CARS Tour was a fledgling series. However, under the aegis of people like Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, and others, the program bloomed into a popular show. Yet the zMAX series still continues to grow with a mix of local short track heroes and aspires to reach the Cup Series someday. Hence, the discipline for a growing series is bound to be more strict.

This is what Dale Earnhardt Jr pointed out to explain his perceived hypocrisy by fans. In a recent episode of Dale Jr Download, Junior took the fans’ side first, “I’ve been reading everybody’s opinion on social media. Some people are like, ‘Hey Dale, you don’t want fighting in the CARS Tour, but you like it here, what the hell?!’”

Then Dale Earnhardt Jr launched his argument in the debate, stressing the image that the CARS Tour needs to maintain. “I agree with that, I don’t want fighting in the CARS Tour…none of it. ‘Cause I feel like when it’s on, or people see it on Flow, we’re the little racers on the short track, right…I feel like it makes us look bad, when we’re striving to be better and bigger and maybe one day continue to grow this series. Yeah, I don’t want us fighting.”

Dale Jr further pointed out that the Cup Series matches the sky’s limit, and thus has the freedom to host such fights with lighter penalties. “But this is the elite top level, right? We see things happening in hockey and other forms of sport. Yes, there’s repercussions, yes they should’ve been penalized. But I just thought 75,000 was a lot.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr’s perceived partiality for the CARS Tour and the Cup Series has deeper roots. His dedication to the late model series is remarkable.

However, Junior confessed to a profound love for CARS

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The CARS Tour was essentially created in 2015 when Jack McNelly pieced together the remnants of the USAR Pro Cup Series. So when Dale Earnhardt Jr and Co. took over the series in 2023, an onerous task lay in front of them. This included promoting the short-track racing talent and also exposing the series to a bigger, more relevant audience. But with Dale Earnhardt Jr’s dedication, the series was bound to reach for the stars.

Last year, he came clean on the hard work that the owners put in. “As someone involved in the series ownership group, it’s never enough. We’re ambitious, and the value of the series is still unrealized. We’ve got a lot of potential with good, quality racing and a lot of great storylines. I’m pretty bullish, but there’s not enough days in the year to accomplish all your tasks.” Then he confessed: “I wish I could wake up in the morning and work on the CARS Tour until I went to bed every single day of the year.”

It is clear why Dale Earnhardt Jr vehemently opposes fighting in the CARS Tour. The Cup Series is a different kettle of fish, though, with plenty of scope for post-race fights.