“It Was Illegal” – Dale Earnhardt Jr Makes Incriminating Admission as He Recalls 12-Hendrick Motorsports Stopping Him From “Cheating”

NASCAR cars have changed from time to time. With 7th-generation or Next-Gen cars dominating the current scenario, the evolution of stock-car racing has pushed it far ahead. NASCAR legend and two-time Xfinity champ Dale Earnhardt Jr has experienced the best of both worlds. With a career spanning almost two decades, he has found himself in many situations.

While the Next-Gen cars have failed to impress the drivers, with almost every other race pointing out a new problem in the car, dissatisfaction with their cars also existed among the drivers in the previous generation. Joining Kenny Wallace on the popular talk show, The Kenny Conversation, Dale Earnhardt Jr reveals a surprising turn of events that could have been considered illegal back then.

Dale Jr decided to tweak his car illegally, along with Tony Eurys

In a stock car, the first skeletal component is the structural frame. It comprises round and square steel tubes of different thicknesses welded into each other to form an outline for the car’s components to hold. Most of the frame structure is for the driver’s protection during crashes. The frontal and rear sections are called the front and rear clips. These clips are built from thinner steel tubing to crush in an accident and push the engine out of the car’s bottom instead of moving it toward the driver in an accident.

However, NASCAR has also set a fixed guideline for adulterating materials and how much a car can be modified. Dale Earnhardt Jr reveals the story of the one time when he could have fallen in trouble over the same aspect of racing. Junior said to a captivated Wallace, “I went to Martinsville and ran into everything. I ran into the wall and into the tow truck behind the wall. I ran everything, right?”

“We hit everything and the tow truck. I had a rough day, so Tony Jr and Tony Sr, we took our car up there to go test, and when we didn’t run good, Tony Sr and Tony Jr, they took you to work. So we go up there to test. This was new to me back in the day, but more than likely, everybody had it. Tony Jr took a piece of tungsten and shaped it like the spring perch on the trailing arm.“

Trailing arms are another important facet of the frame. Most importantly, they are the connecting link between the chassis and the rear axle. Due to this, trailing arms need to be strong and durable. It also supports the car’s weight and gives a base for the compression force to spread that arises between the rear wheels and the chassis.

Tungsten is known for making some of the world’s most durable compounds. A hard, stable element with a high melting point is the perfect addition to a car’s frame; that is how Junior felt about the tweak. Explaining more about the modification, the 49-year-old said, “So, the left rear trailing arm spring perch was made out of tungsten.”

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“So it was like this unsprung weight that would plant the left rear tire on the ground at all times. We put tungsten in lower A-frames for the left front, trying to figure out how to make this car work. We ended up learning that putting that tungsten on the trailing arm back there at the rear axle was the way to go. We just had to disguise it to look like part of the car so that we didn’t get in trouble because it was illegal.”

NASCAR has been against the adulteration of specific base components of the stock car for a long time, and the trailing arms were surely one of them.

Hendrick Motorsports prevented a potential penalty for Dale Earnhardt Jr

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The partnership between Junior and Rick Hendrick showcased a fruitful period in the latter years of Dale Jr’s career. While they could not land a championship despite being a match made in heaven, there were many other reasons why Hendrick Motorsports had Junior covered. The team’s involvement in preventing this illegal addition was one of them.

Speaking about the results that followed their minor but huge change, Dale Jr revealed, “Man, we went there and ran in the top 5, like 6-7 races in a row. It was awesome.”

While it was prohibited, NASCAR needed to know something was wrong to point it out. Tony Eury Jr’s disguise of the tungsten arm needed a revelation from Junior for the HMS staff to know about it. Opening up on the incident, he stated, “Every time I went over to Hendrick, they are great at Martinsville; they win a lot of races.”

“We’d go there, and I’m practicing in the top 5, and I’m like, man, this thing’s good. I just wonder if we can get a little better. Y’all ever put any tungsten? They’re looking at me like, What? We don’t need that, you know.”

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Throwing a sarcastic comment over the issue, Junior then added, “I didn’t mind doing a little cheating. I always wanted some advantage over the competition, and that was the easiest way to get it.”

Rick Hendrick and Co. saved Dale Earnhardt Jr from a potential suspension or a worrisome penalty. Over the years, many instances of drivers allowing illegal modifications have been noted. It is safe to say that HMS prevented a disaster for themselves and Junior.