Dale Earnhardt Jr Details What “Motorsports Are All About” as He Dreams of Jimmie Johnson’s Le Mans Entry Having a Greater Impact on NASCAR

We all know that some of the NASCAR events are pretty long in terms of duration—stretching out to four or more hours on occasion. However, that is nothing compared to what Hendrick Motorsports and Garage 56’s car driven by Jimmie Johnson is going to witness.

The iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans in France has been long revered as the pinnacle of endurance racing. Moreover, during one of Dale Earnhardt Jr’s recent podcasts, the revered ex-driver brought up the idea of how it would be fascinating to incorporate such an event into the regular NASCAR Cup Series schedule.

What did Dale Earnhardt Jr say about an endurance event in NASCAR?

During the podcast, Earnhardt stated, “They’re gonna learn so much through this experience. What will it take, you know to have, to maybe find a way to get our cup series schedule? My hope is that this somehow influences NASCAR to find a way to get on this. You know, to become either part of a 24-hour event or incorporate an endurance race into our own season…So that would be really fascinating for me.”

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Furthermore, regarding the risk entailed for the team and drivers to keep their cars in one piece during the race, Junior said, “That’s what motorsports are all about.” He then justified his point by mentioning an age-old quote about motorsport, “(It’s) a test of man and machine.”

More on endurance racing being the true test of a machine

As per Dale Earnhardt Jr, teams would be tasked with re-building a car. It’s something that has never been done in an endurance event. They would have to focus on every aspect, from working on the durability of the car to training drivers to survive the conditions. However, the final outcome of this would be “fascinating” to witness.

This does not mean that a team would only race a single driver for the entire duration. As per the already established endurance series’ like the World Endurance Championship, each car is run by at least three drivers.

The entire duration of the race is equally mapped across the three drivers so that no single driver loses concentration during the race. It is important to notice that though the drivers can be shuffled, the machine remains the same. It’s all in the name—Endurance.

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It certainly would be marveling to witness such a race take place within the NASCAR Cup Series schedule. However, such a prospect materializing is still a long shot. But given Junior’s sphere of influence within the NASCAR community, such experimentation should not be ruled out.