Sometimes, it is very easy for fans to criticize athletes for poor performances. Of course, it is usually the frustration talking, because fans do not like seeing their favorite athletes or teams lose. On other occasions, people like to complain about the sport itself, whether it is how a particular game or race played out, or how it run. In light of this, NASCAR veteran Kenny Wallace wanted to gauge the opinion of Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Recently, NBA star Kevin Durant wrote a scathing tweet hitting back at fans who criticized the NBA. According to him, people preferred to complain about the basketball series than watch the games. In response, NASCAR insider Jeff Gluck admitted that the sentiment could also be used to describe NASCAR to a T. As a result, Wallace highlighted that sometimes Dale Jr got a lot of stick from disgruntled fans.

Of course, he acknowledged that a lot of the trolls have the safety net of social media to hide behind. Otherwise, they would not be brave enough to say it to Dale Jr.’s face. Wallace also declared that if anyone were to insult him to his face, he would not hesitate to hit them.

Wallace said on his YouTube channel, “Dale Jr, you know I love you. Me and you are good friends, but I tend to look out after us. What got me going was Jeff Gluck, he showed that, that real famous basketball player said, ‘Sports are getting ridiculous. We might as well shut it all down. The NBA is horrible!’ Jeff Gluck said, ‘Yep! This is NASCAR.’ What I’m coming to find out – and this is why I tagged Dale Jr – I see people chew Kevin Harvick’s a– out. I see people chew Jimmie Johnson’s a– out.”

“You could win 8 championships, and they still chew your a– out. I guess we got to get used to it because with social media, it’s the way it is. I’m 61 years old and I’m just not used to people just texting you, ‘Ay! Hey Jr! Is it planned for you to run in the back?’ If he was standing right in front of me, I’d have smacked him right in the face. Of course, he did it on social media. You are right, this is why I do so many videos, so you can see how I say it. A tone of text, ladies and gentlemen, there it is.”

In essence, he is calling out the culture of trolling people. Since people can hide behind their computer screens and mobile phone screens, they think they are untouchable. The ex-NASCAR driver revealed that he was aware that the likes of Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick often got criticized by fans. Kenny Wallace even declared that successful and dominant drivers often bear the brunt of fan criticism.

Was the Dale Earnhardt Jr. criticism fair or warranted?

To be honest, it takes some guts to call out somebody of Dale Jr.’s caliber. After all, he is a 2-time NASCAR Busch Series champion, and 2-time Daytona 500 winner and has several accolades. However, he was never quite able to win a NASCAR Cup Series title in his career. After retiring, Dale Earnhardt Jr. poured all of his efforts into his JR Motorsports Xfinity Series team.

It was only last week when JR Motorsports finally made its NASCAR Cup Series debut, after years in the Xfinity arena. Of course, the team was not exactly an instant success but did well enough at the Daytona 500. As a matter of fact, Justin Allgaier managed to finish in the Top 10 in the race, even if it was helped by a few wrecks along the way.

Still, in the buildup to the JR Motorsports Cup debut, many would have been skeptical about the team’s competitiveness. So obviously, there would be some people who would be wondering if the team would be strong contenders or make up the numbers.