"It is the way it is": Dale Earnhardt Jr. sheds light on harsh reality of NASCAR Manufacturers amid Martinsville controversy
Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently shared his thoughts on NASCAR foreshadowing a rule next year after the alleged race manipulation episode at Martinsville. Steve Phelps, the CEO of NASCAR, mentioned in his 'State of the Sport' address that what happened in the last race of the Round of 8 angered him and the entire NASCAR leadership.
To ensure that doesn't happen, they'd have a rule next year to prevent drivers from protecting their own manufacturer teammates or potentially manipulating the outcome of a race.
Speaking about this in a recent episode of his podcast, Earnhardt Jr. revealed that NASCAR had a meeting with the OEMs and some team members. He further spoke about his own remarks on this subject as he said:
"I talked last week about how I thought the best route forward was how do you deter this? Suspend the drivers for a week even though the drivers really were just doing what they were told or doing what they knew they had to do. If either one of the Chevrolet drivers pass William Byron I would hate to think what inadvertent punishment might come down on those guys. It's is the way it is. The drivers didn't have a choice and so while I don't love what they did, they really didn't have a choice."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. further claimed that if a driver kicked out a manufacturer teammate of his, the manufacturer would be upset.
And while he didn't know what that meant tangibly, Earnhardt Jr. was confident that it 'starts right up at the top'.
"Even if there weren't any conversations from from the organization or even if the manufacturers didn't give them direct orders there's this perception that they know they need to do a certain thing on the racetrack," he added.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to Christopher Bell's 'race fixing' allegations
Speaking about Phoenix, Dale Earnhardt Jr. termed it 'a great weekend' for NASCAR. Junior further commented on the weekend prior, which was 'bit of a challenging' one at Martinsville. The former HMS driver said that NASCAR had a relatively solid end to the season.
But having said that, Earnhardt Jr. shared his take on Christopher Bell's comments ahead of Phoenix where the JGR driver had spoken candidly about 'race fixing' at Martinsville.
"He called it, talking about Martinsville, he called it 'race manipulation' and race fixing. That's a little strong, saying it's one of the hardest things I've had to go through as a race car driver. I will tell him he should probably go watch Martinsville from several years ago when the car he was driving was sort of doing the same thing for Denny Hamlin at the end of the race. This isn't nothing new and I get it, he's frustrated and he has every right to say whatever he wants to say but I don't think there's anyone entirely innocent of some manipulation," Earnhardt said.
Now that the season is behind NASCAR and the off-season has begun, Dale Earnhardt Jr. suggested the governing body get to the root of the cause. So that, when the elimination race at Martinsville comes again in 2025, such a scenario isn't seen where similar manufacturer cars are protecting their own, inciting allegations of race fixing or race manipulation.
Earnhardt pressed on the need to identify the root cause of this problem, which, in his mind, isn't the driver. He added that it is upon NASCAR to get the manufacturers in a room and urge them 'to quit this'. Junior wondered if doing that would be enough.