Dale Earnhardt Jr Turns His Back on NASCAR Drivers as He Predicts Indianapolis Winner

As we NASCAR fans await the action to unfold at the mecca of American Motorsports, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, NASCAR veteran and certified legend of the sport, Dale Earnhardt Jr. just upped the ante with his bold prediction mere days before the epic showdown this coming Sunday.

With the race fumes filling the 2,5-mile road course as the stocky V8s sing their glory, NASCAR nation has a lot gather as the Verizon 300 at the Brickyard will not only be a testing ground for Cup Series drivers but will also feature the best of the best testing each other at the coveted track.

Recently, veteran Dale Jr. made an interesting comment about the upcoming race. Mentioning the presence of elite international drivers like Kamui Kobayashi and the Chicago triumphant Shane Van Gisbergen, the 48-year-old put out a startling statement, essentially favoring the above 2 over the Cup Series prospects.

Dale Earnhardt Jr stirs up the hornet’s nest with his latest comments

The hype is unreal and through the roof for this one as prominent international talents are trying their luck at the grandest stage of Stock Car Racing – the Cup Series race at the Indy road course. While things can’t get better than this for ardent fans, there is more to the picture than just outside talents giving it a go in NASCAR.

And speaking about the star-studded lineup, we have Toyota Gazoo Racing, principal and WEC champion, Kamui Kobayashi driving the #67 car for Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing, being the first-ever Japanese driver to drive a Toyota at Indy. If that’s not enough, SVG returns, eyeing to reap another glorious result after he dismantled his fellow Cup Series drivers in Chicago, outgunning them to win NASCAR’s first-ever street race in Chicago.

Verizon 300 at the Brickyard will also feature another Supercar, Brodie Kostecki at the helm of the #33 Richard Childress Racing car alongside Kyle Busch. With all these updates, pushing the fans to the edge of their seats, NASCAR’s most popular driver, Dale Jr. had some startling comments about the event.

Citing the incredible set by the Japanese racer during the testing phase, he said, “I’m hearing rumors that the testing that they did with him, he was insane! Insane!” Furthermore, the veteran reiterated his stance, saying, “I wanna talk about the 3 drivers, top 5, who out of the 3… I think (Kamui)Kobayashi’s at the top, SVG, and then Brodie(Kostecki) and I’m saying that not just on talent. I’m talking about maybe cars, speed maybe. Honestly, I think that the Toyota and the 23×1 their connection, if you just line the cars up, and put the same driver in all 3 right, RCR, which is Brodie 23×1 which is Kobayashi, and the Trackhouse (Racing) which is SVG, I think 23×1 is gonna have a little bit quicker car than Trackhouse, trackhouse little bit quicker than the 3rd RCR car.” 

While “Junior” became critical of the regular Cup Series drivers, facing difficulty in such a technical road course, he also gave the newcomers a winning chance. “I think Kobayashi with his speed and talent, now SVG has the experience in Chicago and will probably be less mistake-prone like I’m talking about the tire into a barrier or making a mistake breaking the transmission or whatever, he has ridden the car along enough to have muscle memory and everything and I understand tires and all that but when it comes down to it at the end of the race, I think Kobayashi will have enough information by that point to make some great laps.” 

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Veteran Dale details the nuances of the technical Indy road course  

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Now, road courses are not everybody’s cup of tea, especially for old-school oval track experts. Racing on a fast-flowing oval speedway and racing on a tight technical track like Indy is the polar opposite of what Cup Series drivers are accustomed to and that’s precisely where the veteran, Dale Jr points his fingers to.

Speaking on his podcast, Dale Jr Download, he mentioned the gray areas of the track. “Indy is a technical kind of track, weird corners you know a lot of bottlenecks, and places where a road course talent and road course ability can excel.” Taking a page out of his own book, mentioning his success at Watkins Glen(another road course), the 2-time Daytona winner emphasized his point. 

“I can run good there, but I wasn’t a road course guy but it’s like turn straight away, turn straightaway, turn straightaway, and in Glen, you’re like I can put one corner together, piece of cake but if you put like a series of 5 corners right? Where if you mess up one of those, all of them are bad,” said Junior. 

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He then concluded his take by mentioning how the foreign talents have an edge over the local Cup Series drivers, saying, “So that’s where the road course experts shine because they don’t make mistakes and so I just really think people would be paying attention to Kobayashi, I can’t wait to see him and the laps he can make, I think I’d be, I expect him to be great, SVG’s going to be awesome, Brodie could surprise us, but I don’t know if he’ll have the pace that the other 2 have, he’ll be right there.”