{"id":72391,"date":"2025-08-15T20:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T20:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/72391\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T20:09:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T20:09:08","slug":"dale-earnhardt-jr-wants-drastic-rule-change-nascar-fans-may-not-like-motorsport-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/72391\/","title":{"rendered":"Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants drastic rule change NASCAR fans may not like – Motorsport – Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has put on his team owner cap, calling for NASCAR<\/a> to ditch overtime in both the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series.<\/p>\n

The Hall of Famer\u2019s comments follow a crash-filled end to the recent Xfinity race at Watkins Glen, which was ultimately won by JR Motorsports\u2019 Connor Zilisch<\/a>, as well as a similarly destructive Truck race, which went into triple overtime, with Tricon Garage\u2019s Corey Heim coming out on top. Zilisch’s win proved particularly memorable after he broke his collarbone during his post-race celebrations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking on his podcast, the Dale Jr. Download<\/a>, Earnhardt<\/a> prefaced his comments by admitting that his opinion was shaped by his role as owner of JRM, acknowledging that those of fans in the stands may well differ.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was in charge, I would not have overtime finishes in Xfinity or Truck,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it serves any real purpose other than presenting more opportunities to crash and tear up more stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe race cars and trucks, those are $150,000 to $250,000 vehicles\u2026I think we lose sight of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of 2004, the two-lap overtime structure has allowed races in the top three Series a better shot at being completed under green flag conditions, as once the final lap has begun, whatever the next flag is to be flown ends the race, as per On3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the downside of this is the obviously majorly increased opportunity for costly wrecks, with compacted fields fighting tooth and nail for a last-gasp pass in the closing laps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earnhardt explained how he feels the focus during such wrecks appears to be heavily skewed towards the entertainment value and emotions involved, rather than the dramatic financial implications.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DON’T MISS<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one really thinks anymore of like, \u2018D\u2014, that was a couple million dollars worth of equipment got destroyed,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI think that for the long-term good, I would get rid of overtime finishes in Truck and Xfinity. And sometimes races just end under caution.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I know that\u2019s a hard thing for a lot of fans to grasp. They\u2019ve paid to come see the race; they want to see it. They feel entitled or deserving of seeing a race across the line. And I understand that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we can have that in the Cup Series because those drivers make less mistakes, they\u2019re more elite, they are not going to, in most cases, destroy themselves or the whole field racing in overtime finishes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 49-year-old believes that with Xfinity and Truck usually not being the main attractions, and serving more as proving grounds for the next generation, the value isn\u2019t there in terms of seeing them wreck in overtime just to complete under green flag conditions.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, Earnhardt also believes that during overtime, many young drivers pick up bad habits in the melee that usually ensues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In search of a middle ground, he suggested NASCAR switch to a maximum of one overtime in the two Series, allowing the opportunity to still finish under the green and white checker, as overtime is intended for, whilst also limiting the amount of damage that can be done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dale Earnhardt Jr. has put on his team owner cap, calling for NASCAR to ditch overtime in both…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,14056,2332,634,44886,82,44887],"class_list":{"0":"post-72391","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-dale-earnhardt-jr","11":"tag-motorsport-section","12":"tag-nascar","13":"tag-overtime-rule-change","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-xfinity-and-truck-series"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}