What is NASCAR’s solution to its short-track racing woes? They have refuted demands to increase the power of engines of the Next-Gen cars, leaving tire modification as the only potential resolution. At Wilkesboro, NASCAR’s tire partner, Goodyear’s efforts were on display when they rolled out the softer tire compound. And it looks like Dale Jr. wants Goodyear to keep experimenting with their tires with the help of drivers to improve the racing product.

NASCAR Cup Series racing is headed back to a short track at Iowa Speedway this weekend. It’s needless to say the majority of attention will be on the controversial repave job of the track. The attention will also be on the NASCAR’s promises to improve short-track racing, something they have failed to deliver in the past.

Dale Earnhardt Jr appreciates Goodyear’s intervention with the softer tires

The All-Star race was indeed a perfect stage for NASCAR and Goodyear to roll out their gamble with the softer tire compound. Although the results weren’t groundbreaking, there was optimism among the drivers. From the looks of it, Dale Earnhardt Jr is content with the output delivered with a mix of new tire compounds and the repaving of the racetrack at NWS. Moreover, he wants Goodyear to continue working around the softer tire compound.

“We saw a brand new repave that was multi-groove. We’ve never seen that before and as many years as I can remember… Any time you have multi-grooves like we had at Wilkesboro, that’s a great thing. Hopefully, we continue to see that develop as we go further along the schedule and racing at these short tracks throughout the rest of the year [and] Goodyear continuing to push the tire and get more aggressive with the tire. Because I don’t think the tracks are broken,” Jr said in an interview with Bob Pockrass.

At Wilkesboro, Goodyear provided three separate tire compounds for teams. A baseline “prime” tire, a softer “option” tire and wet-weather tires in case of rain. The outcome was well received by drivers and crew chiefs  as they reacted favorably to softer wet-weather tires. Does this mean Goodyear has cracked the short track tire code? There is some time to go before a judgment can be passed, but improvements continue.

Dale Jr also didn’t hesitate to highlight the core problem that has led to the current state of the short-track racing product. “They’ve tried everything with this car. They’ve stripped the downforce away. They’ve done all the things they can do at the test. The drivers feel nothing when they’re making these changes. So, I’m not 100 percent sold that the car is the problem.”

Since the Next-Gen cars debuted in 2022, NASCAR’s short track racing has been subject to criticism and scrutiny from the fans and the drivers. At Bristol in March, NASCAR had, what many including Dale Jr. termed its best Next Gen race. It was a happy accident as the high tire wear led to drivers managing their tire game better and made the race more compelling. But the next two races offered the same old story.

Martinsville saw drivers often struggle to pass during the race. Joey Logano ran the first 184 laps on the same set of left side tires and led despite the rest of the field having fresher left side tires than him. After the race, Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, said that they are working to improve short track racing.

Speaking on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, he said, “I promise you we are working as hard as we can with Goodyear and we need to work harder. That’s the bottom line. We need to work harder to come to a place, where as I said a couple of weeks ago, we need to figure out how to bottle up what we learned at Bristol.”

After Martinsville, Denny Hamlin asked NASCAR to seek Dale Jr.’s help. “Get NASCAR’s car, and get Dale Jr. Get him to go to Richmond, and get him to go to Martinsville and test tires… I think he would sign up in two seconds to go out there because he’s angry about the tire as much as I am. He brings it up just as much as I do.”

Similar to Hamlin’s remarks, Dale Jr. had also spoken out after the Martinsville race. On his podcast, Dale Jr. Download, he said he had pressed the panic button regarding the quality of short track races, a year ago and people are now realizing that something isn’t right.

Meanwhile, in his interview with Pockrass, JR Motorsports co-owner also touched upon another important topic involving the future of NASCAR racing, charter negotiation. While the fans have been waiting for Dale Earnhardt Jr’s entry in the Cup Series as owner. However, any such plans have been put on hold as of now.

Dale Earnhardt Jr isn’t sold on a Cup Series charter purchase

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In the aftermath of Stewart Haas Racing’s exit from NASCAR, a lot of fans were fantasizing about JRM making the move to the Cup Series. Jr along with his sister Kelley Earnhardt, has dominated the second tier of NASCAR racing and produced gems like Chase Elliott, William Byron, Noah Gragson, and Josh Berry. One of the major factors that was considered to be a deal-breaker for JRM’s foray to Cup level was the sky-high prices of the charters.

But despite the availability of multiple charters and a price drop on the charters, Dale Jr isn’t too sold on making the jump to the highest level of stock car racing. Shedding a light on factors that went behind this decision, Jr said, “We’re out of the charter business right now. … The sale of a charter—I would call it a cycle, right? Well, we missed this last cycle. We’ll see what comes down the road. I’m almost feeling like that if I were to ever get involved in the Cup side, it would be like an investment — my personal monetary investment in something current.”

He did express his desire to be involved in the business side of Cup Racing operations. But, again, that would be a sentimental move rather than a professional one. “I would be open to talking to team owners about putting money into a particular singular charter and saying, “Hey, I’m going to park an investment here in this charter. I’m leaving that for my generations down the road, my girls, and what have you.” It wouldn’t be anything other than that.”

However, given how crazy this Silly Season has turned out to be so far, nothing can be said for certain. For now, all eyes will be on Iowa to see how Goodyear and NASCAR are able to provide a better spectacle than the last two short-track races.