In NASCAR, it is easy for fans to get caught up in the ‘good old days’ narrative when talking about their favorite drivers not being there anymore, and the racing product not being as exciting as it was before. But when someone like Dale Earnhardt Jr., who started his career in a different era and ended it in an entirely different one, points to one of the most important aspects changing for the worse, it does make one wonder.
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On this week’s Dale Jr. Download, the NASCAR Hall of Famer spoke at length about how in the current era, drivers do not spend as much time with each other as they used to just a decade and a half back. This, according to him, has led to an increase in the number of driver feuds, and a decrease in the number of actual conversations.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. blames the current system as ripe for less driver interaction
After talking about the Chase Elliott-Kyle Larson incident, Dale Jr. expressed how a shorter weekend now is partially responsible for drivers not developing any real understanding with each other.
“..The shorter weekend, the drivers now not really physically being around each other as much in the bus lot and all that stuff, they’re not around each other all that much. And I think that’s one of the small reasons. that’s one of the many reasons why we’re having more feuds, we’re having more contact, we’re having more pushing and shoving, more ‘I don’t give a sh*t about you’ in this moment on the racetrack.”
Junior also touched upon a point Kyle Busch made recently about the lack of respect on the track, with everyone trying to run each other hard.
“The drivers have been talking about the etiquette and you know, hard racing. I think a lot of that is that they don’t live together anymore.”
Dale Jr. touches upon how this wasn’t the case when he was racing
Extending his argument, Junior also pointed out that while earlier drivers used to spend 3 to 4 days in the bus lot and had time to talk with the other drivers and teams, this is not the case now.
“Man, when you know, 15 years ago, 10 years ago, you spent half of the week in the bus lot.. Wanted to give them a piece of your mind, they were always right there. And now that they’re all so hard to find, you don’t see the damn drivers unless you know, you chase them down.”
“You don’t see them meandering about the racetrack, they’re not in the bus lot. They don’t have to be at the racetrack till right when practice starts.”
Coming from Junior, who has spent more than three-fourths of his life around the race track and is still involved as an owner, this should certainly start some introspection, atleast from the teams’ and drivers’ side.
