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Dale Jr. explains why threat of Martinsville-type controversy will continue to loom over NASCAR

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones11/07/24brianjones_93
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
David Tucker/News Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants NASCAR to make changes after there was race manipulation at Martinsville this past Sunday. On Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt explained why the issue could continue to loom over NASCAR going forward, with the big reasons being the owners telling the drivers what to do.

“That’s why fans were thinking penalizing the drivers was the wrong thing to do because the drivers were just doing what they’re told,” Earnhardt said. They’re under so much pressure. If Ross Chastain drives around the 24 [William Byron], oh boy. He’s gonna have hell to pay when Rick Hendrick calls him up and goes, ‘What are you doing, dummy?’ I don’t know that Rick would do that, but Jeff Gordon might walk up to him and go, ‘Dude, you’re driving a Chevrolet.’

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“…Those conversations will happen. Ross felt pressured. I don’t know if Ross was told something on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, I don’t know. But I feel certain they were made aware at some point because the comments on the radio were just a reminder of what’s going on here.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants somebody to speak out

“I hate it for the drivers but in the end, someone has to stand up and go, ‘We can’t do this. This is not good for any of us. This is not good for our sport, this ain’t good for us now and long-term. Somebody in the room needs to stand up, not just NASCAR, somebody else. Everybody’s a stakeholder here, we’re all invested in this.”

After the Martinsville race, Chastain, Austin Dillon and Bubba Wallace were penalized by NASCAR for race manipulation. Chastain and Dillon were accused of blocking for Byron, and Wallace was accused of slowing down for Christoper Bell. Byron and Bell were battling for a spot in the Championship 4, and Bell initially got the spot. But NASCAR penalized Bell for a wall-riding incident at the end of the race, and Byron replaced Bell in the Cup Series Championship.

“We took and looked at the most recent penalty that we had written for an infraction, very similar, which was the 41 car a couple of years ago at the Roval,” NASCAR Senior VP of Competition Elton Sawyer said about the penalties to Chastain, Dillon and Wallace, per NASCAR.com. “We felt like we wanted to ramp this one up and we did, we did that in a way that we included team leadership.