Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix was a triple overtime race that saw several frustrating cautions on the track. Extending to 75 laps instead of its usual 68-lap run, the race saw a caution for dirt on the track. Around lap 42, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, and Harrison Burton had got loose on the turn. And hence, NASCAR unfurled the yellow flag to warn everyone about it. However, many viewers, including Dale Earnhardt Jr initially could not understand the governing body’s decision.

Claiming that the dirt has been there for long and not many drivers had complained about it, they questioned the governing body’s decision of raising a caution.

But in his recent admission during the Dale Jr Download podcast, Earnhardt Jr said that he kind of gets NASCAR’s situation.

Assuming how some drivers might have actually complained, Earnhardt Jr said, “There was a lot of that on the race track. I would tell you right now. As a driver, I would be raising hell about that. The only guys that didn’t complain about the dirt were the guys that didn’t want the yellow.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr admits to making sh*t up for a caution

While discussing Sunday’s caution at COTA, Dale Jr discussed the recent issues related to cautions being used for strategic purposes.

He said, “There’s races going on where there ain’t sh*t on the race track and you got guys howling about debris. Trying to make some sh*t up. They needed yellow. Now, NASCAR’s hearing all this…And I’d throw some damage out of my car, make a damn caution.”

Stunned by Earnhardt Jr’s statement about throwing some damage out of the car to create a caution, his co-host Mike Davis asked if that is really true. To this, Earnhardt Jr replied, “I am just saying from a driver’s point of view. Some people have done it.”

Still surprised by the idea, Davis curiously asked Earnhardt Jr if he had ever done anything like this.

“I think I did one or two times. I think I threw some padding out of my car once. I don’t think that it got my caution that I wanted.”

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How some drivers came prepared with ‘extra padding’

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After admitting to throwing out the padding from his car to influence NASCAR’s decision for raising a caution, Earnhardt Jr revealed that during the Budweiser Shootout days, some drivers carried the padding just for throwing it out of the car.

Explaining how the extra piece wasn’t exactly an extra, Jr said, “We didn’t have an extra piece of padding. We had a piece of padding that would be the padding to choose if you needed to throw some padding out on the track.”

During the conversation in the podcast, Earnhardt Jr discussed the repercussions of caution on the strategic decisions of a race. Furthermore, the JR Motorsports owner talked about the late race cautions and how they altered the results.

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