Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to Richard Petty saying road course racing is not NASCAR

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a response to Richard Petty‘s comments about NASCAR and road course racing. On Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt shared his thoughts on Petty saying road course racing is not NASCAR.

“I agree with Richard,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “Road course racing isn’t NASCAR. …There’s been road course racing in NASCAR since the ’50s.”

Earnhardt then talked about how there was only one road course (Riverside) when he was young. NASCAR then added Watkins Glen, and Earnhardt said, “being a road course racer wasn’t important” at that time.

“If you wanted to be a racer in NASCAR, if you wanted to get to NASCAR, you raced a short track somewhere locally,” Earnhardt said. “You ran stock cars, you ran late model stock, you ran the Busch Series or the Sportsman cars back in the ’80s. You raced full-bodied cars around ovals. …That was the route.”

Earnhardt added, “That was yesterday’s NASCAR, and that’s what Richard Petty is talking about. But we’re in a different time. Today’s NASCAR is all-encompassing. It is road courses, short tracks, superspeedway.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. shares more on Richard Petty’s road course comments

Earnhardt later shared more about Richard Petty’s comments about road courses in NASCAR. “I agree with Richard Petty,” he said. “NASCAR stock car racing is predominantly an oval-based series. Always has been. We have removed some ovals, we’ve removed some tracks, added some road courses. I’m fine with that because I do like the idea that our drivers need to be great at all things. If you’re going to be a champion, you now have to be as good at a road course as you are at an oval. Back when I started driving, you didn’t. You could f***ing suck at the road course as long as you were good everywhere else.”

Petty made the comments after Shane van Gisbergen won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Mexico City, which is a road course. He took aim at NASCAR for having drivers make the playoffs after winning a race.

“They got this thing fixed where if you win, you’re in. That can’t be right,” Petty said on Monday in a video shared social media. “You got somebody that’s 30th in points that’s going to make the playoffs. What happened to the guy that 15th, or 16th or 18th (that’s) been running good (and) finished good everywhere?” 

“You’re making a championship situation by winning a road course, which is not really NASCAR to begin with,” Petty continued. “From that standpoint, I think they’re going to have to jockey around and change some stuff.“