Atlanta Motor Speedway has quickly become one of the most entertaining tracks on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule. That was once again on display during this past Sunday's Quaker State 400.
All of the weather situations that have presented themselves in recent races have raised questions among some personalities in NASCAR. The biggest talking point is whether NASCAR needs to make some races shorter.
Dirty Mo Media's "Door Bumper Clear" podcast had plenty to chat about on the subject. Show host Casey Boat posed the question to Brett Griffin, TJ Majors and Freddie Kraft, all of whom have seen success as spotters in NASCAR's top series.
Kraft, who spots for Bubba Wallace, brought up the point that if NASCAR wants the drivers to race with more urgency, it needs to shorten the races.
SHORTEN. THE. DAMN. RACE. ?
DBC makes the argument that a shorter race would make for better racing. Do you agree?
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"That's what you do is shorten the damn race," Kraft said. "You will see less of the riding around 2-by-2. ... This was a great race and it was just shy of 300 laps, 300 miles. You know, why would we not, you know, think about making these races 300 miles?"
Majors, who is the spotter for Brad Keselowski, followed with his own thoughts — primarily that maybe only the Daytona 500 needs to be that long of a race in terms of the super speedway races.
"The only race, plate race I think there needs to be 500 miles is probably the Daytona 500," Majors said. "Other than that, the rest of them ... You know, like you want to create urgency. You're going to get rid of that riding around stage we always seem to have. So I don't think a 300-mile plate race is a bad deal."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Shares His Thoughts
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Well, their thoughts got Dale Earnhardt Jr. a little fired up, and he had a response for his fellow Dirty Mo Media co-workers' thoughts and big ideas.
On a new episode of the "Dale Jr. Download" podcast, Earnhardt and co-host Mike Davis had a nice chat about the subject. Earnhardt detailed how Atlanta has become the hottest ticket in NASCAR, and that they have other issues to worry about than shortening races.
There are bigger issues at hand than shortening a race that was entertaining from start to finish. ?
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"We have one of our most entertaining products at Atlanta, and we got people talking about shortening that race," Earnhardt said. "Where we have work to do in other places. Short-track package, road course package. We got work to do."
Davis agreed and even brought up how NASCAR will have a chance to work on the short-track package this weekend at New Hampshire. Earnhardt didn't hold back about how much the talk about shortening races frustrates him.
"I mean, like, stay, focused," Earnhardt said. "Shortening up a race that's fricking totally f——— fine. FOCUS!"
Earnhardt hit the nail right on the head. There are a lot more problems in the sport than the length of races.
He also made a valid point during Sunday's broadcast when he called Atlanta the new "hot ticket" event, overtaking the Bristol Night Race as a must-attend race if you are a fan.
Wasn't it the goal of the Next Gen car to help even the playing field? Atlanta certainly gave nearly every driver in the field a chance to compete for the win.
I am with Earnhardt on this one. Get out of here with your "we need to shorten the race" stance.
