Dale Earnhardt Jr. Concerned for Future of Denny Hamlin’s Hometrack

With every passing race on it, the Richmond Raceway makes a stronger case for why one of its two races on the Cup Series calendar ought to be dropped. Last Sunday’s race lacked action except in the initial 30 laps and the final 2 laps. Back from another mundane race weekend at the venue, Dale Earnhardt Jr. couldn’t help expressing his worry at the fall of this once great racing track.

Speaking on his podcast, the racing icon detailed how factors surrounding the track’s spring race were hurting the sport – by no fault of the track itself. One of the key points he brought up was the race being scheduled on Easter Day. Expressing his disdain for racing on a holiday, he reiterated that fans wouldn’t want to be at the race track as well.

“The track is completely innocent in this,” he said. “The track is perfectly fine and it would be, with a couple of changes, a very kick a** place to race.” He continued how he kept suggesting the promotion to seal the race track to enhance the racing experience but that he wasn’t being heard. “They refuse to seal that race track. I don’t understand that,” he quipped in frustration.

Richmond is dangerously close to losing its second date… and it might already be too late. pic.twitter.com/6ybpn0R4li

— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) April 2, 2024

Dale Jr. believes that NASCAR will be forced to drop the spring race in Richmond because of their stubbornness and look for alternate avenues, which he considers unnecessary. He concluded that a replacement could be a road course and that the historic 0.750-oval – which has been associated with NASCAR since 1953 – does not deserve to see a race dropped.

What is the issue with the Richmond Raceway that has caused its downfall?

After the weekend, drivers including Chase Elliott complained about the inability to pass on the short track and how they could win the race only through tire and pit strategies. Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. combining to lead 372 of the 407 laps give a gist of how monotonous the day was. Despite it being his home track, race winner Denny Hamlin wasn’t very impressed with the experience either.

“I thought today nobody really ran out too far,” he said, as reported by The Athletic. “I think we’ve seen some Richmond races where some guys get way out there at times when they kind of hit it. We were all just in a wad there for 150 laps or so, a couple of car lengths here and there.” Talking of a replacement track, Hamlin couldn’t figure out where NASCAR might want to go considering they owned the Richmond Raceway.

NASCAR has been continually working on bettering its short-track package. However, there is no certainty that the package that will work on other short tracks will work at Richmond as well. In times when short tracks are being revived from the past to grow the sport, removing a race from Richmond is far from ideal. With international interests expanding parallelly, Judgement Day will be when NASCAR releases its 2025 schedule.