NASCAR like other sports has a host of flags to indicate certain scenarios to the drivers. The yellow flag is meant to caution drivers. Driving at 200mph, drivers’ safety is important but it looks like safety hasn’t always been the reason behind these flags – Dale Earnhardt Jr dissects this for us.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Earnhardt Jr has raced 631 races in the NASCAR Cup Series (among many other races and competitions), so it’s fair to say he has a good idea of things. On his podcast, he speaks on the indiscriminate, and at times insincere use of caution.
He said, “I don’t like the sign [referring to the cardboard sign] ending up on the race track and I’m torn up even for the yellow for it. We had Corey Lajoie spinning out in the grass, now he got turned around but NASCAR could easily have thrown a yellow for it and I wouldn’t be mad at it.”
“I don’t like a bullshit yellow, I don’t like a debris yellow with no real debris. We don’t really see them anymore like we used to. Gosh, when I was driving, UGH, I’m on the racetrack and I know it’s bullshit. There ain’t no debris out there. And every fricking week it seemed like we had a caution with 20 or 10 to go to bust the damn field up. That’s all it was. Because fricking races were lacking enough excitement that they had to figure out a way to…” he said with a great degree of annoyance.
Earnhardt makes convincing arguments against the way NASCAR has deployed caution flags, at least in the past. While he no longer races, his seat from the above allows him to use the experience of 19 years and offer such astute assessments.
Dale Earnhardt Jr also poke at the Cardboard Sign Issue
When Dale Jr makes his disdain known for the use of caution flags by NASCAR, he also goes on to speak on the cardboard sign incident where no flag was shown.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
He said on the incident, “There was a chance for them to throw a yellow [after the Lajoie incident], but they held the flag. Good for them….”
“Then the sign thing comes out and I’m like “Well sh*t”. Because I wanted to see if the #20 catches #4. He thought he could catch him. That would’ve been fun to watch. A fricking cardboard sign is responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars of damages and playoff hopes dashed and all the things. All because of the stupid a** cardboard sign.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Watch This Story: “Would Wreck Your Own Mom to Win the Million Bucks” – Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch Were Not on Talking Terms for One Year After This Million Dollar Crash
NASCAR looks to be improving in its deployment of flags. The cardboard sign incident was a one-off by the looks of it, and the seal of approval comes from Dale Jr himself.