Dale Earnhardt Jr Believes NASCAR Can’t Afford Their Biggest Gamble – “You’re Going to Lose Crowd”

Everything needs to change to stay relevant. Even a sport like NASCAR. Hence, it is good that NASCAR is laying down major investments and bringing changes. However, they need to understand the balance between an investment and a gamble. We all remember their decision to move the season-opening Clash to LA Coliseum. Although fans didn’t particularly like that, NASCAR is again looking to play a similar risky hand. 

An expensive venture that NASCAR recently took up was racing in Chicago. While the first race was a success with Shane van Gisbergen re-writing the history books, our favorite veteran of the sport, Dale Earndhart Jr, had some major concerns about the idea’s sustainability. 

Dale Earnhardt raises genuine worries over NASCAR’s Chicago Street Race 

In a recent episode of his Dale Jr Download podcast, the former NASCAR Busch Series Champion didn’t hold back on his assessment about racing in Chicago. Last time, a whopping $50 million-plus was spent to put on the Chicago Street Race Weekend, as per President Julie Giese. Hence, the ‘sustainability’ questions raised by Junior are relevant and, as NASCAR is taking such bold initiatives, it only makes sense to backtrack and reiterate. But that’s not the only issue Dale Jr pointed out.

He even touched on the topic of the audience. He emphasized the fact that the first year is always going to be a success for any venue. After that, there is going to be a decline in crowd numbers. In other words, the novelty just wears off!

He questioned, “How long can we race in the streets of Chicago? Is that a sustainable thing, can you do that year over year for a long time? I don’t feel like that’s realistic you know I think that it’s so expensive to do that eventually the crowd’s going to level off, right? After, the first couple of years, you’re going to lose some of the crowd. Right?

“You got to expect that if you’re running this whole deal, the crowds, it’s not going to keep getting, I mean, that first year you’re going to have the biggest, most interest and most intrigued,” he further added. 

Last year NASCAR took the bold step to organize a race through the streets of a city, for the first time in its 75-year history. The move received mixed responses. Last year after the race, Matt Weaver, a motorsports journalist said, it “was a pretty big gamble by NASCAR because this is something completely novel for them.” But he said that the city was accommodating and people saw the value of the concept.

On the other hand, Bill Conway, the alderman for the 34th ward in Chicago City Council expressed his reservations about the race returning next year. He said, “As we take a look at this going forward, we are going to have to take a look at the cost-benefit analysis. We did receive some complaints, the noise of the cars and we did hear complaints regarding traffic issues.”

If we think from a different lens, not every year will a driver be able to make history on the track- another reason Chicago could lose its novelty factor. Aside from that, one cannot ignore the downpour that took place in Chicago during the last NASCAR race. Hence, there are also geographical concerns which, believe it or not, have a major financial impact and it is something Earnhardt. Jr. believes casts a doubt over the future of NASCAR in Chicago.

Dale Earnhardt Jr on Chicago’s weather woes and track troubles

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In the same episode, Dale Earnhardt Jr and the rest couldn’t help but talk about the weather conditions in Chicago, touching upon the rains that led to the shortening of the race. While NASCAR cars do have the ability to race during light rains, we can not negate the safety factor. And that is what happened last year. Heavy floors blocked the streets and there was a major thunderstorm that forced NASCAR to cancel the last half of the Xfinity Series race set to run through the city’s downtown. They just declared Cole Custer as the winner and called it a day. 

But is this right? Is this what people are here for? Moreover, Dale Earnhardt even raised concerns over Chicago’s track condition. He said, “There’s a nasty bump down in the middle of three and four and without maintenance. And year-round, you know, taking care of, is the surface even raceable without some patchwork and improvements? I don’t know.”

But what do you think? Should NASCAR continue racing in Chicago? As fans who need not worry about NASCAR’s financial troubles, we for one, would actually like to see more action like Kyle Busch getting under the water-filled tire barriers in only the second lap of the race. So, which was your favorite moment from the debut event? And do you look forward to this year’s edition of the race?