Dale Earnhardt Jr. criticizes drivers needing a win at Darlington to get into NASCAR Playoffs

Dale Earnhardt Jr. made a pointed critique at the drivers who entered Darlington needing a win, like Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain and Kyle Busch, who didn’t do enough to put themselves in a position to win over the weekend.

It was put up or shut up time for the wheelmen outside the Top 16, and Briscoe, Chastain and Busch left it all on the table. As for the rest of the field on the outside looking in, Earnhardt Jr. explained why he believes many drivers didn’t take the necessary chances to try and get their first win of 2024, and that disappointed him.

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“There’s no hiding at Darlington, and there’s no lucking into a win there. There’s no sort of average driver that gets an incredible car and wins there. Even in that scenario, you’re going to get beat,” Earnhardt Jr. stated, via the latest episode of the Dale Jr. Download. “It’s just, it’s a very slick, narrow, unpredictable track, but the both ends being so completely different from each other — one and two in Darlington are one of the most nail-biting, intimidating corners at any oval racetrack in North America. Just trying to get through there by yourself, let alone on the racetrack with 40 other cars, is so tough, and you do that all night long, and you have to run inches from the wall trying not to damage your car. It’s hard to do, and so only the good ones, only the really, really good ones, will get wins at that racetrack.

“Chase Briscoe comes into the final race of the year, not in the playoffs, going to have to win. He was one of many drivers trying to go in and try to have a walk-off home run, or whatever you want to call it, a game seven moment. So, he had a really fast car, ran P2. You know, ran really well all night long. Couldn’t really, never really got an opportunity to sort of go toe to toe with [Kyle] Larson throughout most of the night. But it seemed like, as the race got later and the track changed somewhat, something changed, but Larson’s competitiveness sort of faded, and Briscoe took advantage of it. Great move down the back straightaway on a late restart, P4 to P1. What a move.

“So, taking advantage of some drivers on, you know, taking advantage of [Ross] Chastain, who had stayed out. I like that move. Look, Chastain didn’t have a chance in hell, staying out on old tires. But I — what else are you going to do? He’s also got to win the race. I saw a few other drivers that were also in must-win scenarios not taking those chances. I’m thinking, ‘What are you doing?’ There were a couple of drivers that needed to win the race that didn’t come down pit road to get tires on that one caution. And so I’m like, ‘Man, you’re not even trying to put yourself in an offensive position.’ And so, you know, even though Ross probably didn’t have much of a chance on the older tires, I thought it was really cool that he tried, and his team said, ‘You know, hell with it, we’re gonna stay out.’”

While the decision didn’t work out for Chastain to get him into the playoffs, it was the type of move he needed to make to push all his chips into the center of the table. In the end, he still left Darlington with a top five, and a commendable performance at The Lady in Black.

Chase Briscoe ended up getting to the playoffs, while Kyle Busch almost ran down the No. 14 in the closing laps. As for the rest of the field that missed that playoffs, they’re getting an earful from Dale Earnhardt Jr., and they’ll spend the offseason wondering what could’ve been if they took more chances.