Dale Earnhardt Jr. not a fan of NASCAR holding race on Easter Sunday

For the last few years, NASCAR has been trying to make an Easter Sunday date work, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is about tired of it already. The Hall of Famer doesn’t believe it is worth the effort for NASCAR to pursue this long-term.

Based on this year’s results at the track and on TV, I think NASCAR is prepared to cut this Sunday on the calendar again. With Bristol Dirt, it seemed to work a little bit. However, moving the date to Richmond provided less than stellar results.

On his latest episode of the Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt let his feelings be known about racing on Easter Sunday.

“Racing on Easter is not helpful,” Earnhardt said. “I know other sports play on Easter and other things happen but I’m not going to those. I’m not ever going to be at a sporting event on Easter holiday, I’m not. Not happening. It’s not entirely necessary that we do that. That is not going to help your walkup crowd, your ticket sales, that is not going to help. And I don’t think it really helps your TV audience. People are doing s**t on Easter.”

When it comes to other sports, Dale Earnhardt Jr. admits they have holiday games that work. However, he doesn’t believe NASCAR is going to be able to make Easter Sunday racing a thing.

“I suppose that works when it’s tradition,” Junior continued. “Like when you, every Thanksgiving you’re going to turn on the NFL and you’re going to see Dallas and the Lions play, every freaking year. I always remember, Dallas and the Lions playing, Dallas and the Lions playing, I’m like ‘Damn it, this is boring as hell.’ You know, for a Washington fan. But there were a couple of times when Washington and Dallas played, I think.

“My point is, that’s a tradition. You’re not going to just all of a sudden hammer this round peg in a square hole and, ‘Hey man, we’re doing it.’ I don’t know, this is probably pointless to make this argument. But I hate to see all of these things that work against Richmond.”

I understand what Dale Earnhardt Jr. is saying here. But there is a way that this works. For starters, you have to change the schedule. Richmond has had issues with attendance in the last few years in general. There are other tracks that pull in bigger crowds on a regular basis.

Also, on the tradition argument – you have to make an attempt and be committed to create tradition. NASCAR is likely going to abandon the Easter Sunday race, but if they want it to be a success, I think they have to put more effort into it. Ultimately, I don’t think it is worth NASCAR’s time and efforts at this time.