Dale Jarrett’s Passionate Case for Hall of Fame Backed by NASCAR Insider

NASCAR icon Dale Jarrett was one of the stars present at the NASCAR Hall of Fame ceremony at Charlotte on Friday. Speaking to the press, he said that he wanted Jeff Burton and Jimmy Makar to be inducted into the Hall of Fame someday, speaking highly of their achievements and expressed concern that Makar hasn’t even been a part of the ballot yet.

Former driver Kenny Wallace touched upon this subject on Coffee with Kenny. He opined that NASCAR does not carry as many drivers as the NFL or the NBA does players and so, inducting individuals into the Hall of Fame based on stats alone isn’t a viable practice.

Wallace backed this by supporting the names that Jarrett had put forward. “Dale Jarrett just said something I totally agree with,” he said. “He said that we are going to have to start putting people in the Hall of Fame who have done more than winning and are not superstars.

“He said, ‘I wanna see Jimmy Makar.’ Makar was on brother Rusty’s team … Makar was a great crew chief. But he started Joe Gibbs Racing.”

Wallace understands that not many fans might know Makar. But that doesn’t take away from all the things he accomplished in the sport. He continued, “The other one that I agree with is my friend, Jeff Burton. Burton won about 22 Cup races. I think he is a superstar inside the garage area. Here’s why. Because he is ‘The Mayor.'”

Rounding up, Wallace underlined that the NASCAR Hall of Fame might be running out of people to put in the Hall of Fame. His post on X drew a range of responses from all quarters. Easily noticeable among them was that of Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s choices for the NASCAR Hall of Fame

The big question at the center of this discussion is which names get to be inducted into the Hall of Fame next. Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s choices are, “Larry Phillips, Ray Elder, Sam Ard, Jack Ingram, Butch Lindley.” He revealed this in response to Wallace and explained what made these individuals worthy candidates by breaking down the achievements of Ray Elder.

Dale Jr. wrote, “Ray was a 6 time Winston West champion. Beat the Cup boys twice when they came out west to Riverside. He was racing NASCAR and building the western foundation of the sport’s long before it was popular to do so.” 

Dale Jr.’s point is that there are multiple drivers who have won NASCAR-sanctioned races in their careers and that they should get due recognition.