The NASCAR season might have wrapped up in Phoenix, but the drama and debates are far from over. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is sparking fresh debate about the track’s safety after witnessing yet another hair-raising crash. On his latest Dale Jr. Download podcast, the NASCAR legend took aim at Phoenix Raceway’s layout, particularly its infamous dogleg section, which he claims is tough on drivers’ bodies and not exactly the best design NASCAR has ever come up with. His comments come hot on the heels of a dangerous wreck involving Joe Gibbs’ grandson, Ty Gibbs, during the season finale.

Dale Jr. knows a thing or two about the toll a track can take on a driver. After all, he retired early due to multiple concussions, so when he talks about safety, people listen. And right now, he’s not too thrilled with what he’s seeing at Phoenix.

“The dogleg is foolish”: Dale Jr. sounds off

The final race of the 2024 NASCAR season had fans on the edge of their seats, but not always for the right reasons. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who’s never shy about speaking his mind, had some choice words about the Phoenix track’s dogleg—a sharp section of the track that drivers aggressively cut across to gain positions, especially on restarts. According to Dale, this part of the track was never intended to be used the way it is now, and he thinks it’s time for NASCAR to reevaluate.

“So there’s there’s a bunch of reasons why. But again, in general, Phoenix is, look, the old track with the older surface, I like that better, but it raced about the same,” Dale Jr. explained. “The dogleg is foolish and silly, as I thought it was when it came out, how they cut the course, uh, which is just at, you know, I don’t know.”

When his co-host Andrew Kurland asked if he didn’t like it, Dale responded, “I don’t love when you build a track, and the best way to run it is by cutting the course. Uh, I don’t think when they built it—actually, I’ll say this—now if they built it intentionally for restarts to be that way, then I would go, all right. But I know damn well the guy who engineered that thing never knew what those restarts would be like. They thought they would be up there, not down on the dogleg.”

The discussion then shifted to how physically taxing the track can be on drivers, particularly with the stiff setups of the Next-Gen cars. “I’ve talked to a lot of drivers as they go across that apron, and they hate to do it because it’s so violent and it’s hard on their head,” Dale Jr. emphasized. “It’s too rough on the drivers.” 

These concerns came into sharp focus after Ty Gibbs’ scary crash early in the championship race. The young driver slammed into the wall hard enough to leave everyone gasping, but thankfully, he walked away without any major injuries. After being cleared from the infield care center, Gibbs admitted, “It was definitely a big hit. I made contact with the wall, but I didn’t think it was necessarily too bad, and I went off into the dogleg. We’ve been really hard on the track there all week, and I think I just caught it at a bad angle, and it just took off from me. I had no control there.”

Should NASCAR move its championship finale?

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While the dogleg may be the star of the controversy, Dale Earnhardt Jr. also threw a curveball by questioning why NASCAR keeps coming back to Phoenix for the championship finale. Yes, sometimes the races there are thrilling, but Dale thinks it’s getting a bit stale and maybe even dangerous.

“Hey, all I’m going to say is I think, you know, Phoenix is gonna be Phoenix,” Dale Jr. reflected. “Sometimes going to be great races there, sometimes not so amazing, but last year Phoenix I thought was great. The one car holding off to 12 for the championship in the Cup Series that was entertaining to me. I was entertained. And so not, you know, not so much this year and that’s okay. Sometimes it’s going to have those.”

When asked if the championship race should rotate to different tracks, Dale Jr. didn’t hesitate. “Let it play out. If it (Phoenix) ends up being a snooze fest, oh well. We have those sometimes. Should we race somewhere else for the end of the year? Yeah, we probably should move it around,” he said. 

For a guy who had to step away from racing due to concussions, Dale Jr.’s concerns carry a lot of weight. His early retirement in 2017 was driven by multiple concussions from high-speed crashes, forcing him to rethink his priorities. And now, as a broadcaster and podcast host, he’s using his platform to push for changes that could protect today’s drivers.

Dale Earnhardt Jr’s concern for safety also has a very personal connection. The veteran lost his father to the race tracks back in February 2001 to a devastating crash at Daytona. Dale Sr. was a legend of the sport with 7 Cup series championships, tied for the most all-time along with Jimmie Johnson and Richard Petty. This further shows that no matter how good a driver you are, safety always comes first. In a sport with such fine margins, compromising on safety is never an option and Dale Jr emphasizes this on his podcast.

It’s clear Dale Jr. isn’t afraid to speak his mind, especially when it comes to driver safety. And with the crash involving Ty Gibbs as a fresh example, it’s hard to ignore his point. The question now is, will NASCAR listen? Will they rethink the Phoenix finale or at least take a hard look at the safety concerns raised by one of the sport’s most beloved voices?

For now, Dale Jr.’s message is clear: NASCAR needs to think about what’s best for the drivers, not just what makes for a wild restart. And as the NASCAR world looks ahead to 2025, only time will tell if changes are on the horizon or if Phoenix remains the sport’s controversial season closer.