Ryan Blaney Explains Dale Earnhardt Jr How and Why Everybody Races Nowadays in NASCAR

Shaharyar
|PublishedJun 07, 2023

Ryan Blaney Refuses to Share Details About “Wild Stuff” With Former Neighbor Dale Earnhardt Jr.

NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Blaney (12) talks with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Saturday, July 30, 2022, during practice for the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

If you’ve been a NASCAR fan for over 10 years, chances are you’re probably not a fan of the current state of racing in the sport. Because not only has the ‘racing’ aspect in the races gone down, things have become a little messy too between drivers on the track. This is simply to say that drivers aren’t racing as cleanly or rather as respectfully as they used to. And if you’re still not convinced about this, let Dale Earnhardt Jr. make that point to you.

Because the Hall of Famer, in a recent conversation with this year’s Coca-Cola 600 winner Ryan Blaney, went on somewhat of a rant about the lack of mutual respect between drivers today.

Not only that, but Junior also asked Blaney why he thinks his generation and the coming generation of drivers are the way they are.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wonders why everyone races “the s**t out of each other”

In a recent episode of his podcast show, Earnhardt Jr. touched upon the transition in the sport during the last decade or so which has led to the state of racing we have today.

“There is, for whatever reason … a lot of drama. And I know there’s certain people who seem to be in it a lot, so it could be situational, it could be certain new personalities that have come into the sport…Chase (Elliott) and Denny (Hamlin) have had a history but they’re not problem causers, they don’t do stuff all the time,” Junior said to Blaney. “But it seems like to me that when you came into the sport, there was a lot of give and take, ‘Hey man, going by, I’ll see you later, I’ll help you here in this part of the race, you help me next week.’ It’s gone.”

“What happened? It’s like everybody races the s**t out of each other.”

Ryan Blaney on the biggest reason for the state of NASCAR racing today

Responding to Earnhardt Jr, Ryan Blaney claimed there’s not one but multiple reasons behind what is happening in NASCAR. He described how when he first made his way into the sport, there was no stage racing, that drivers had “plenty of time” to get back someone who passed them.

“I think that was a big part of it, no stages. Now stages are super important, so if you’re coming down to 40, 30 to go in a stage, you’re not gonna let anyone go, you have to go for every point,” he continued. Blaney argued that because the racecars are so close to each other these days and because it’s so tough to make up spots considering if you let someone pass, “you don’t know if you’re gonna ever pass them back,” we are where we are, that’s why the racing is “so tough nowadays.”

And a byproduct of that, as per Blaney, is that there’s “not as much courtesy” anymore.

About the author

Shaharyar

Shaharyar is a NASCAR journalist at the SportsRush. Along with two years of experience covering the sport, he is also a filmmaker and a big fan of soccer. His favorite NASCAR drivers in the modern era of the sport are Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch but when it comes to the GOAT debate, he believes no one is or will ever be as great as Dale Earnhardt.

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