Dale Earnhardt Jr. issues warning on future of NASCAR Xfinity Series

The Xfinity Series car and Cup Series Next Gen car look and race very differently. Both cars use entirely different parts and pieces, and that has Dale Earnhardt Jr. concerned about the future of NASCAR‘s second-tier series.

Earnhardt is co-owner of JR Motorsports, one of, if not the best, team in Xfinity. The Hall of Famer is plugged in and said during an interview this week with FOX Sports’ Kevin Harvick that there are rumors of the Xfinity car undergoing a makeover in the future. Earnhardt said that, unfortunately, the parts that make up the Xfinity car are becoming “obsolete.”

“I believe that the parts and pieces that we’re all using to race Trucks or Xfinity are a bit obsolete and I wish they weren’t. I wish there were companies still out there making these parts,” Earnhardt said. “When the Cup car moved away from the rear-end housing and suspension — all these type things that we currently run — it’s put things in question in terms of physically, what’s the future of the Xfinity car. What does it look like in five years? And there’s some rumors that that’s going to change.

“… There’s currently not anyone making a lot of the stuff. Transmissions are getting harder to find, even for short trackers. Everybody’s pretty much running the same stuff and even the short track guys at the local level are having a hard time finding parts and pieces.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. talks future of Xfinity Series

Last June, NASCAR unveiled its official electric vehicle prototype. NASCAR has been very adamant that this electric racecar is not going to race. They have no plans for it to race or for an electric racing series.

But Earnhardt isn’t convinced. He believes an electric racing series is a possibility at some point. Could that impact the future of Xfinity? Perhaps, but as could the dynamics of Cup and how much it costs to race in NASCAR’s top series, Earnhardt explained.

“Everything’s kind of in a bit of a spin right now, but I believe the Xfinity Series has to find a bit of an identity and I think NASCAR is trying to figure out what that is,” Earnhardt said. “Is it hybrid? They aren’t making this electric car for fun. There’s a purpose behind that. Like it or not — I’m not entirely in love with it — they’re not doing that just to kid and play around. There’s a real possibility that could be a series at some point and something NASCAR wants to get behind and push.

“The other thing, too, is that the business model in the Xfinity Series has worked really well, but as the charter system changes in the Cup Series and the dollars that you need from corporate America to race in the Cup Series change, it conflicts with the business model in Xfinity a little bit. In the Cup Series, if you could ever get to where you’re competitive at $5 to $10 million, then that’s gonna make it difficult to make the dollars work in the Xfinity Series.”