Dale Jr. Disagrees With Kyle Busch & Kevin Harvick’s Blueprint for Their Kids

With the growing popularity of NASCAR on the international stage, the competition to be a part of its grid has only been escalating. Year after year, the number of young entrants to the world of racing has been on the upward graph, and their relative ages are on the downward. Apart from native skills, experience and exposure play a huge role in preparing youngsters for the top tiers of NASCAR.

Champion drivers like Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick know this only too well. With their sons, who are just around the age of 10, already gaining a name for their racing prowess, NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t think it will help them have an edge over the later entrants.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. expresses his thoughts on young drivers in NASCAR

Ahead of the first race of the playoff’s second stage, Kaulig Racing’s No. 31 driver Justin Haley appeared on the ‘Dale Jr. Download’ podcast alongside Dale Jr. and co-host Mike Davis. Discussing a host of topics that involved the launch of the 24-year-old’s career, Dale Jr. asked him about the age at which he began racing. Delving into the story of how he’d first struck a chord with a racing car after driving a quarter midget at his cousin’s party, Justin went on to reveal that he’d started racing at the tender age of 9. As the driver continued to express that 9, by itself, was a ‘late-start’, Dale Jr. was left with no option but to express his views on it.

With Justin taking the example of Keelan Harvick, who began racing at the age of 7, to defend his words, Dale Jr. said, “I don’t think so. I really don’t know. I didn’t really start driving till I was 15. That was normal.” 

With Keelan being brought up, both agreed that the new normal was 5, but Dale Jr. still thought beginning at an earlier age does not give racers an advantage over those who begin at 10 or 12. Justin nodded in agreement, and the duo reasoned uniformly that racers that young process information differently, as they themselves had done.

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As Dale said, “I don’t think so. I ran some go-kart racing when I was 12. I had no idea what was going on.”, Justin responded, “I still don’t know if I had any idea what was going on. I am like, ‘Man, I don’t know.” Noticing the conversation grow deeper and more interesting, Mike Davis, the director of communications at JR Motorsports, pitched in with his own question involving the fledgling drivers who were just beginning to press on their throttles.

Dale Jr. does not think Harvick and Busch have an advantage.

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11-year-old Keelan Harvick has been making quite the donuts since his debut in racing. Expressing that he wanted to break into the world of Formula 1 rather than NASCAR, he has been focusing on go-karting on the circuits of Europe. 2-time champion Kyle Busch’s 8-year-old son, Brexton Busch, is not very different. Starting to race at the age of 5, he recently won the prelims of the Junior Micro Sprint race in Texas. Despite these youngsters living up to their family names on the tracks, the expert eyes of Dale Jr. have not found the early onsets to be particularly necessary. As Mike Davis asked what made young racers like Keelan, Brexton, and Wyatt Miller so good if they couldn’t process information, Dale Jr. gave a rather straightforward answer.

He said, “Well, I don’t know. I don’t know if that does make them good. I just think they’re getting the experience. It’s not… If they wanna start and do that, it’s not wrong. But I am just saying that if you are 12 and you haven’t raced, doesn’t mean that you’ve missed your shot.” Justin pitched in backing with, “You process information differently. I didn’t really understand what we were doing. How to make speed until 14, 15.”

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With the young drivers already beginning to make their mark on the tracks, their old men have been equally involved in creating their legacies too.

Dale Jr.’s words might not exactly fall in line with the beliefs of Kyle Busch or Kevin Harvick, but with the characters of the sport changing, it becomes necessary for its participants to change their dynamics too. But only time and statistics can reveal if this does have a realistic performance in long-term careers.