If you were building out a motorsports Mount Rushmore, A.J. Foyt might be a shoo-in. But when it comes to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn’t quite convinced he deserves induction.

“There’s this really big conversation around the name A.J. Foyt,” Earnhardt said on Tuesday’s Dale Jr. Download. “… First off, you would need to know what he’s done in the sport statistically. This conversation has come up a couple times in the past several years, and there’s some people who believe A.J. Foyt belongs in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and there’s some folks who believe he doesn’t.

“Is A.J. Foyt one of the greatest drivers ever? Yes, I think most people would absolutely agree. I’m not sure he’s a NASCAR Hall of Famer.”

Foyt, 91, only logged 128 starts in NASCAR from 1963-1994. He had seven wins and 36 top 10s, winning the 1972 Daytona 500.

Foyt was much more known for his IndyCar Series career. He is No. 1 on the all-time wins list in IndyCar (67) and is the only driver to win seven championships in the open-wheel league. Foyt became the first driver to win four Indianapolis 500s with his win in 1977.

A.J. Foyt doesn’t have Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s vote for NASCAR HOF

Earnhardt isn’t sure his statistics are enough top get his vote for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. On top of that, Earnhardt saw Foyt as “cantankerous” and “problematic” when he competed in NASCAR.

“I think that a lot of people just say, ‘Hey, he’s one of the greatest drivers ever, and he raced with us, he’s automatic.’ I’m not sure I agree with that,” Earnhardt said. “… A.J. came and had success and won, but there were also times where he came and was cantankerous and difficult and problematic. … I think that it would matter if say he has 128 starts, seven wins, but he was a champion — not literally — but he championed our sport, he lifted it up. He never cared about that; he was just there to try to win. He ran four to five races a year, he showed up and raced to try to win races. He had some badass freaking race cars.

“… It doesn’t weigh a ton into my decision, but I do weigh were they problematic, did they create issues, were they in trouble, did they tear us down, did they lift us up, did they go around talking about how much freaking badass it is to race NASCAR, were they a person that promoted, talked positively about it? That’s gonna be a little bit of a factor of my vote.”