“My D**n Laps From Atlanta Ain’t in There”- Dale Earnhardt Jr. Calls Out His Employees for Austin Hill “Skewing the Stats”

He might not have won a Cup Series during his time, but there is no doubt that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has had an illustrious career. The 48-year-old has won some iconic races and has given fans a lot to cheer for. He has also notched up some pretty impressive statistics in his racing, and as it turns out, the No. 88 Chevy is quite particular about them.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t like it when someone misinterprets the stats, especially when it results in an unfavorable situation for him. In a recent episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast, Junior took up the issue of last weekend’s Xfinity race at Daytona, which was presented by one of his employees. It showed the drivers who had led the most laps at drafting tracks.

“From running in Atlanta?” – Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes issue with Speedway

“There were some statistics that came up during the Xfinity race. Laps led, at restricted plate race tracks or now drafting tracks. Dad’s way out there in front and then it’s Tony Stewart and then Austin Hill and me, or me and Austin Hill. We’re all in there together, right? Well, half of Austin’s statistics in laps led come from Atlanta,” Junior had initially said.

The issue with this is that the Atlanta Motor Speedway was only recently reprofiled to be a drafting track like Daytona and Talladega. Until the 2022 season, it had a bank of 24 degrees, which was then converted to 28 degrees. It was also narrowed from 17 meters to 12 meters. 

This was long after Junior’s retirement from the Cup Series, and there are many like him who still don’t consider Atlanta to be a drafting track. The former Cup Series driver believes that since it is possible to draft at other tracks as well, tracks like Daytona, Talladega, and Atlanta should be considered superspeedways.

The only issue is that Junior doesn’t believe Atlanta to even be a superspeedway as it is not at least 2 miles in length.

All this information factored into Junior’s displeasure that Austin Hill was ahead of him in most laps led at a drafting track, as he said that the stats did not take into account the laps he had led at Atlanta in his career as it wasn’t a drafting track back then.

So when one of his employees in Dirty Mo Media, The Professor, factored in Atlanta and put Austin Hill and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the same bracket, he was not the most pleased.

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“Yeah, I’m looking at those guys and I’m like, “Wait, you’re gonna let this guy climb the f***ing race?” From running in Atlanta? My d**n laps from Atlanta ain’t in there. Now dude. No bull**t, he’s great at drafting. He is good. I mean I said it. We said it on the pre-race. Everybody’s chasing his #21. I ain’t trying to say he’s not good, I’m trying to say he’s skewing the stats,” he said.

While Junior might be a bit unhappy with one of his employees for misrepresenting the statistics, he was happy with others. Mike Davis revealed that on the episode of Dirty Mo Dough ahead of the Daytona race on Saturday, Steve Letarte shared Junior’s opinion that Atlanta was not a speedway.

Steve Letarte Echoes Junior’s View on Dirty Mo Dough

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Dirty Mo Dough is a podcast under Dirty Mo Media where the main topic of conversation is sports betting as the primary focus, and Steve Letarte and The Professor are integral parts of the show. Ahead of the race at Daytona, the guys at Dirty Mo Dough were talking about the odds and who had the best record at drafting tracks when The Professor brought up a driver who was good at Daytona, Talladega, and Atlanta.

According to Mike Davis, Letarte interjected that Atlanta should not be in the conversation with Daytona and Talladega as it was very different from those two and not a superspeedway.

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“They were trying to handicap the Daytona field and The Professor brings up this, I don’t remember which guy they were talking about, but this guy’s really good at Daytona, Talladega, and Atlanta, and Steve Letarte was like, “Well, well, well, just leave Atlanta out of this. I’m not counting Atlanta for this, I’m not basing off my picks based off of what they do at Atlanta,”” Davis said.

There seems to be a lot of debate over whether Atlanta should be put in the same bracket as Talladega and Daytona. What do you think? Is Junior right to not count Atlanta alongside Talladega and Daytona? Let us know your thoughts.