Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s weekly podcast covers a wide range of topics important to the current condition of NASCAR. Earnhardt criticized “manipulation” by car manufacturers and driving teams on this week’s Dale Jr. Download, citing its negative impact on the total product.
“There are many people who truly believe in loyalty, and you do everything you can to make…” Earnhardt stated on On3 that manufacturing manipulation in Daytona and Talladega races has become a major issue.
“It was even more outrageous a few years ago. Remember, they were pitting and practicing together, and everything was perfectly choreographed.
It was nauseating.It destroyed racing at Daytona and Talladega because the manufacturers were all trying to conspire and work against one another.
“When Joe Gibbs Racing started working together to get to the front of the field and stay there for the entire race, it sucked. It awful as a driver and as a watcher, unless you were a Gibbs supporter.
Earnhardt’s comments follow Harrison Burton’s victory in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona last weekend, driving the No. 21 Ford Mustang. Parker Retzlaff, who drives the No. 62 Chevy, boosted Burton on his final lap, much to the chagrin of those at Chevrolet.
On SiriusXM Radio this week, Retzlaff expressed disappointment with the race’s outcome.
“I’m not going to get into the back-end stuff, but it was definitely not what I wanted to happen at the end of the race, and I didn’t want to push a Ford to the win necessarily, but FunkAway (sponsor) has supported me for the last two-and-a-half years of NASCAR racing, and it was their first Cup race. I wanted to do everything I could to help them have a good result and put my name on the map.
