Most NASCAR races these days always seem to end with something controversial or upsetting to fans and drivers alike. It has almost become a must-happen occurrence — from drivers bad-mouthing something that happened on the track to fans taking to social media to express their frustrations about the race result or the announcement of a penalty. The biggest targets of the questions always seem to fall on NASCAR's governing body itself. JR Motorsports owner and NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. is questioning whether the constant criticism is fair.
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Throughout the years, the sport's top officials have always worked to improve the race experience for the fans, yet plenty of technical and non-technical issues find their way into the races.
During a recent episode of The Dale Jr. Download podcast, Earnhardt said that he was tired of the pervasive attitude that the sport needs fixing. He went on to discuss the narrative that NASCAR needs a complete fix, in most fans and drivers' minds every week. The arguing and bickering among fans on social media every week are only worsening Earnhardt's concerns about the constant feeling that NASCAR has to change something.
"Here's the thing — and I know you've got a things to say — but I'm getting really, really exhausted with the feeling that every week we gotta fix something," Earnhardt said.
"I feel like every single week we watch a race and we come out of that race instead of going, 'Man, that was awesome. Incredible race. Oh, that track delivers. Man, that was a hell of a battle.' Instead, we come out of there and go, 'Man, that sucked, we need to fix this. Man, that sucked, we don't need this anymore. Man, why do we do this this way?'"
An honest and humble person, Earnhardt even admitted that he, too, is guilty of criticizing the races and the governing body.
"And I'm doing it, I'm guilty of sitting there going, 'God darn! It was awesome but, I didn't like this part,'" Earnhardt said.
He also discussed his views on why it has become such a common occurrence in the NASCAR world. "And I don't know whether that's because there's truly some problems that need fixing, or that's just the new norm in terms of, you know, how we react or how I react," he said.
He went on to say that he "won't even put this on nobody else" and is trying to ask himself whether this really needs to happen every week. Do complaints really help, or is this just how the sport is meant to be?
Dale Jr. has dedicated his life to the sport, and he has seen the sport grow in so many ways. However, he did say that the changes that have been made by the governing body to the current next-generation cars have not produced the kind of results that were hoped for. The 15-time Most Popular Driver has a clear and valid point, as plenty of issues have arisen over the past couple of weeks. Those include the concerns raised by Denny Hamlin about the lack of passing at the April 16 Cup race at Martinsville Speedway.
