Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes complaining NASCAR fans to task, media for giving platform

Each week, a new batch of complaints and critiques pops up in the NASCAR world, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. has about had it. The Hall of Famer doesn’t think media should waste time on the vocal minority online. In fact, he says he doesn’t see many complaints online in general.

I’m not sure what algorithm Dale Earnhardt Jr. has on his Twitter/X profile, but it’s better than mine. Every week, you can find a new batch of complaints about NASCAR and how the sport is being run.

On the Dale Jr. Download this week, the former racer talked about the negativity online. He had to be convinced that it was real. For all he knew, no one was complaining after Chicago.

“First off, you know, you get done with these races and there’s a lot of little avenues of thought, conversation, complaint,” Earnhardt said. “We’re going to try to go through most of those. One of them that I didn’t understand at all is, and help me if I’m, I saw a couple of people in the media … about people complaining that we’re going to Chicago or went to Chicago and Mexico. I hadn’t heard none of this s**t, who is complaining?

“Who is complaining so much that [Jeff] Gluck and Jordan [Bianchi] needed to address, like, ‘Hey guys, if we’re growing the sport, we need to go to these places. You’ve gotten Wilkesboro back, you’ve got the Rockingham back, you got this, that, and the other. We still can do those great things that you love and are nostalgic about and we can go grow the sport in Mexico City or Chicago. Stop complaining.’ But I ain’t heard anybody complain!”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants fewer road courses, but won’t complain

Once he was convinced that there was legitimate criticism of the Chicago race online, Dale Jr. came around. Why are fans complaining? Many of them don’t think street racing belongs in NASCAR. Others want to see fewer road courses.

“Well, I feel that way, but I’m not complaining about it because I don’t get to choose. I mean, if I had my way, our asses would be raicng South Boston and all kinds of fun little race tracks. But it ain’t happening. So, I don’t sit on social media and b***h about it and say, ‘We need to go to South Boston.'”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. would like to see less focus on the negative. The Chicago Street Race has largely been a popular event. Even the city, which was once apprehensive at best and outright hostile towards the race at worst, has come around.

“My opinion, I guess, is, like, Gluck, Jordan, I don’t see the reason why they had to address it. It wasn’t a loud enough, it wasn’t a big enough group of people, you know, to address it, for Pete Pistone to tweet about it. Just adds credibility to people that are saying that. I think it, it’s a pointless thing. So, I just didn’t understand that.”