Last weekend’s race at Pocono Raceway sent chills down every NASCAR enthusiast’s spine. Drivers hurling their helmets towards other cars; several cars spinning into the track; and, to top it all off, a controversial win and on-track rivalry between NASCAR’s most famous icons One could just use two words to describe Sunday’s HighPoint.com 400: Classic NASCAR! In one of his podcasts, the legendary Dale Earnhardt Jr called out a Joe Gibbs racer for taking advantage of a friend to win the race.
However, in a podcast that followed shortly after, the Hall of Famer had something else to say about the hottest topic of discussion. He said that despite all the upheaval resulting from the tussle and all the booing from the fans after the race, there is just one thing that he cannot oversee.
Dale Jr saw glimpses of 1994 coming back at Pocono.
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Is there a single driver who has not once used their bumper to get a competitor out of the way for their own benefit? However, there are aggressive drivers who have a habit of doing that. NASCAR has also witnessed drivers that race with respect, with maybe the occasional fender rub but nothing that hurls you into the wall. The former No. 88 JR Motorsports driver gave his opinion on the recent Hamlin-Larson incident.
He admitted that it was quite normal for Hendrick Motorsports and Kyle Larson fans to be upset about what happened in Pocono. But he also added that the essence of high-speed racing lies in the probability of contact. According to him, that is exactly what racing looked like in the 1980s, when his father, Dale Earnhardt Sr, drove full-time in NASCAR.
On the Dale Jr Download, Junior said; “We need exactly what we got yesterday; we need that. We need that villain, we need contact, confrontation!”
He got all excited when he started remembering his days as a kid watching his father race with the chances of running everyone down, and it was all normal for him.
“That’s where we were, not long ago! It ain’t scripted…this is all authentic. This is exactly what I love about NASCAR.” he exclaimed, to which co-host Mike Davis agreed. One might ask, then what exactly does the former NASCAR speedster feel about the driver of #11 and #5?
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Although Denny Hamlin drove the #5 into the fence, Dale Earnhardt Jr said it was not “egregious”
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NASCAR does not endorse dirty driving, but certain nuances of the sport are just unavoidable. When you have almost 40 cars driving at full throttle, aiming for just one spot in the victory lane, you do what you have to in order to leave the others behind. The 48-year-old said that it was “a little disrespectful, but it’s also hard racing.”
He agreed that Kyle Larson got run into the fence because of Denny, but also clarified that when the former hit the wall, Denny Hamlin was not overtly pushing him next to his door.
“He crossed some lanes… When you slow it down frame to frame, when the 5 hits the wall, Denny is not in his door; it’s not that egregious. Denny kinda turns down a track. There’s a car length and a half between them when the 5 is in the fence.” Junior added.
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I know there’s a lot of opinions about the “moments” but damn, how good has the racing been these past several weeks? @NASCAR is alive and well! (ric flair whoo)
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) July 23, 2023
To conclude, Dale Earnhardt Jr acknowledged that he could not stop thinking about how good it was to be a NASCAR fan and how great the last 4 weeks have been.
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Do you agree with the man? Or are you one of those who would still continue the booing?
Read more – Kyle Busch Wants Denny Hamlin’s Throne” – Fans Unleash an Unusual Rivalry as 2014 Stat Breaks the Internet