‘Greatest Day in Motorsports’ was a debacle. Apart from Charles Leclerc redeeming himself at the Monaco Grand Prix, the other two events were completely sidelined by the weather gods. Although the Indy 500 managed to finish its festivities despite the delay, the same was not the case for NASCAR’s Crown Jewel. At the end of a gloomy and tumultuous day, Coca-Cola 600 was halted, with only 249 laps completed out of 400. Fans were expecting it to resume later. But to their horror, it was announced that the race was done and Christopher Bell was declared as the winner!

This angered fans. However, Dale Earnhardt Jr chose to side with NASCAR and CMS officials over their decision to call it quits. What’s the reason behind this?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. gave disgruntled fans a reality check

Taking to the Dale Jr Download, the JR Motorsports veteran shared his thoughts on the matter. According to Junior, he had no issues with the call NASCAR had made. He stated, “It’s been the way it has been forever, for as long as I remember. That’s what happened. I’m fine with that. I don’t have a problem with it. I wasn’t there. I don’t know what the racetrack looked like, I don’t know what the surface of the racetrack looked like.” 

With many claiming that the track appeared to be drying visually, Earnhardt Jr. had to highlight how looks could be deceiving. He stated, “I have been in some situations where it is humid and damp and they can’t dry it. I’ve seen them fire the cars down on turn one on what they thought was a dry race track.”

Despite using Air Titans, jets, and all sorts of drying apparatus, NASCAR was unable to dry the 1.5-mile track in time. As the clock neared midnight at Charlotte, another major issue plagued the organizers: humidity. The amount of rainfall from the storm system just wasn’t anticipated. This, in turn, left the officials with no option but to end the race early.

He highlighted a race during the Winston Cup era that he participated in. Without getting into specifics, Junior gave a reasonable insight into what could have happened at Charlotte if NASCAR continued racing. “We thought the track was dry. Everybody thought the track was dry. We got down to the corner and the car just flew into the fence, multiple cars. So you can’t take that risk if they thought that the track was not dry enough and if they thought it was too late in the evening to race this thing out, then that’s the decision they make.” 

Coco-Cola 600 top-5

At the end of the day, Junior felt NASCAR had no choice but to end the race since they had already crossed the halfway mark. In the history of NASCAR, a race has never been run over two days, making such a suggestion blasphemous in Junior’s eyes. Still, although the veteran sided with officials and their call to end the race, this result could have one major repercussion that Junior fears.

Will the Coca-Cola 600 debacle affect Charlotte Oval’s reputation?

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For the past few seasons, racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway has heavily focused on the Roval layout. Combining the best of the Oval and the road course sections of the speedway, NASCAR aimed to bring a unique event to the table. Since its debut in 2018, the track has delivered some exciting races. However, all of that seems to have changed with the Next-Gen car.

Now, that action on the Charlotte Oval suited the car’s aerodynamic needs better, Earnhardt Jr felt that the Oval should come back for a playoff race. He stated, “I know that NASCAR fans spend a lot of money to come and be there. They saw a pretty good race from what I heard all the way until the point that the rains did come. I think the Oval at Charlotte runs very well right now. I think it’s one of the more exciting races that I’ve seen over the past few years with the Next-Gen car.”  

According to the JR Motorsports veteran, the Charlotte Oval was a promising candidate for running two events in the future. Unfortunately, the debacle at the Crown Jewel this season may throw some curveballs in that plan. “I hate that this was a bad experience all around for everybody because it doesn’t allow the Oval to really show what it’s truly capable of. And when we’re arguing earlier in the show about whether the Oval should come back for the race. Well, this doesn’t help that argument.” 

However, he does understand that fans spend their hard-earned money on these races. More than 80,000 fans attended and former President Donald Trump was a part of all the excitement. Did you know that Trump met Austin Dillon of RCR while fans cheered for them? Well, the weather surely dampened everyone’s mood.

After looking at Dale Earnhardt Jr’s thoughts about the Coca-Cola 600 and the decisions made by NASCAR, do you think the community is being too harsh on the officials?