Goodyear has been a consistent partner to NASCAR for a number of years now but they have frequently been in the line of fire. A number of drivers and owners have expressed dissatisfaction with their product, especially Tony Stewart. Of late, the tire manufacturer has done a decent job but there are some things that still irk a few people. One such person is Dale Earnhardt Jr. The JR Motorsports team owner recently revealed something that he was not exactly a fan of about Goodyear. But it wasn’t all negative coming from the former Cup Series driver.

JR Motorsports picked up an unexpected win in the Xfinity Series race in Martinsville on Saturday. It was the last race of the round of 8 and Justin Allgaier’s win meant that the team has two drivers in contention at Phoenix. While the win was a result of an implosion at RCR, it didn’t matter to JRM or Dale Jr. It was nothing but a pleasant surprise as far as they’re concerned.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. expresses gratitude towards Goodyear despite shortcomings

Not everything Junior spoke about in the post-race interview was about his driver’s success. It was not long before the conversation shifted to Goodyear who had brought upgrades to its product in Martinsville. For the past couple of seasons, racing in NASCAR has suffered on short tracks. Part of the problem was the tires.

This season, for the shortest track on the calendar, Goodyear brought tires that may finally be the solution but only to the Cup Series race. Junior was impressed by how the tires behaved during the practice and qualifying sessions. According to him, tires on short tracks should wear out faster and rubber the track up, making it rough. The 3000-mile tire that NASCAR had been using for the past couple of seasons was just not going to cut it as far as the 49-year-old was concerned.

“You know with the tire we’ve had, it’s been right on the bottom, can’t pass anybody but if this track kind of widens out you might be able to arc that entry to 1 and drive across the race track and drive up underneath somebody off the corner. Something we haven’t seen here in a while since the Next-Gen came around so hopefully the tire is a part of the process of improving short-track racing,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.

He was still not entirely happy with Goodyear being hesitant to take more risks with their product. But he understood why that was the case, referring to the Indianapolis race earlier this season where the tires suffered way too much wear.

“Goodyear has always been really hesitant to get aggressive or do anything sort of risky with their product since we had the thing at Indy. I get it, they don’t want to have problems on the race track because it’s hard to sell tires to customers on the street but thank you for the efforts they’ve had to try to improve things. Even if it doesn’t work, I thank them for trying,” the 49-year-old added.

Good tires or not, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was a happy man at the end of the Xfinity Series race. With two drivers in the championship race, Junior spoke about the controversial ending in the post-race interview.

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JR Motorsports celebrates an unlikely victory

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The Cup driver-turned-team owner admitted that his driver, Justin Allgaier, did not have the pace to match RCR’s. At the same time, he appreciated his team’s victory despite the shortcomings.

“Well, we’re thankful, that was a wild finish. Justin didn’t have a good enough car to outrun them guys but it all, you know, got messy at the end and we come out on the good end of it and when those things happen, there will be a lot of people that are unhappy or one guy that is or maybe two but…and we’ve been on both ends of it,” the JRM team owner said.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has proven to be an able team owner, winning three Xfinity Series championships. Next weekend, with two drivers in the picture, he will be hoping for the fourth title. Will the 49-year-old be able to achieve it? Only time will tell.

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