The season is here and the fans have been waiting for this! NASCAR’s long-term partner brings a fresh twist to race-day strategy with its latest initiative—the Xfinity Fastest Lap Award. This one is aimed to work as a reinforcement for all those drivers and teams who put in that extra zing of effort and aim for higher speed than others. 

Recently, Dale Earnhardt Jr opened up about his stance on the recent development. Fans also saw him talking about his father, Dale Earnhardt Sr. We can expect the thrill on tracks to continue now that Comcast has extended its deal with NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Series. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr acknowledges new move by NASCAR 

Well, there is some good news for all those fans who thought that NASCAR missed the zing of adrenaline. Moving on, there will be a reinforcement of one point for all the drivers who secure the fastest lap across a particular race. Earnhardt Jr. pointed out that in the past on how fans eagerly tracked lap leaders. They even kept track of the bonus points, making the race even more engaging. Earnhardt Jr remembered how, as a kid, he would do the same when his father’s team would track whether they had secured the most laps led before the checkered flag. 

Dale Jr recounted how the bonus points system during his father’s time made the sport interesting at every step. During this time, the drivers got rewarded for the number of laps they had dominated throughout the drive. Speaking of the same, he added, “Even leading a lap—bonus. I miss that, ‘cause, um, I remember—I remember being a kid and just, you know, Dad was going to race for championship.”

Speaking of how exciting it was to witness the same, Earnhardt Jr, added, “Kind of—we were, we were, we were certainly spoiled in that regard. We knew when we went to the race track, Dad was racing for a championship, so every day was an important day to get as many points as possible. And so you were, you were, you know, you were literally willing Dad into the lead in these races back in the 80s and the 90s, going—”God, we gotta lead the lap! All right, we did it! We led that lap! We got that point! We got that five points!” You know?

The move introduced by Xfinity aimed to hand over a fresh spin on the sport. Xfinity will end its title sponsorship of NASCAR’s second-tier series after 2025. The telecommunications giant valued at nearly $130 billion is expanding its footprint in the sport in new and innovative ways.

Comcast’s Matt Lederer, VP of Branded Partnerships & Activation, emphasized that after 11 years of elevating the Xfinity Series, the brand is shifting focus to areas of greater strategic importance. He said, “Now, I think it’s time for someone else to take that mantle and continue to grow the series to heights that we can’t even consider at this point.”

The Fastest Lap Award adds another strategic layer to NASCAR races across all three tiers. It is kind of an ode to the past formats where drivers and teams fought for even points as it did matter. While Formula 1 recently retired a similar fastest-lap incentive, NASCAR’s decision to incorporate points into this feature makes it a unique addition to the sport. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr speaks his mind on rookie strips

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As of the 2025 season, NASCAR has ruled how they would no longer allow drivers to have rookie strips on their cars. It seemed like a bummer as the strips have been a part of the sport for a long time and suddenly, they deemed it “unnecessary”. Dale Earnhardt Jr seemed to be quite against this decision and spoke his heart out in an episode of The Dale Jr. Download. 

He said, “It shook me up there for a second because it’s such a cool tradition, and a lot of people are going, ‘Well, it’s not necessary now, the drivers, they kind of know who everybody is.’ It’s not for the drivers, it was for us.” 

He further added, “It was for me and you. In like, 1980, for example, when you went to the Daytona 500, there were probably 70 to 80 cars trying to qualify for the Daytona 500. Multiple, 20, 25 rookies, maybe. That is when it was necessary. It’s kind of changed in terms of what purpose it served. But man, some traditions, what’s wrong with them? That was just a thing that didn’t have to go away”. 

The rookie strips did hold sentiment for both fans and drivers alike. However, given that the sport is in the middle of so many changes for this season, this one feels like a minor sentimental inconvenience.