Dale Jr Doesn’t Hold Back Against FOX Sports as NASCAR’s Accused of Greed

The length of TV commercials is increasing thanks to stage caution. That, in turn, is leading to fewer laps being run at full throttle for each stage of a race. After Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr. came into the debate as well, strongly voicing his opinion against it

Neither the fans nor the drivers enjoy this period. While it strategically helps sponsors get commercial value from the sport, the fans end up watching advertisements for the duration of 6-10 or sometimes even more laps. During this time, the drivers sit in their cars going at the designated slow speed, waiting for the caution to end.

Stage cautions were meant to prevent advertisements from appearing during green flag conditions, meaning fans get to watch more racing. But when there are more laps being lost to yellow flag conditions, it means fans end up watching fewer racing laps.

“They eat into like 20 per cent of the stage with caution. I don’t know why that doesn’t signal real concern, right? ” said Dale Jr. on his podcast. “They are not real cautions. They’re brought out because they’re implemented by the sanctioning body. It’s their responsibility, and they are the reason why we are having it.” 

The veteran driver raised questions about how this would affect the sport.

“They’re putting it on us as a fan, right, watching the race. All right, we got a caution, Okay, we understand what you’re doing,” said Earnhardt Jr. “It shouldn’t eat into the remaining part of the race, ” said the Hall of Famer before adding, “It’s like taking product off the shelf.”

These comments come on the back of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race in Martinsville, where a total of 96 laps were lost to caution in a race that was 250 laps long. Denny Hamlin also raised an interesting point, as the caution period also affected the Cup Series race.

Hamlin gives the driver’s perspective on cautions 

Before Dale Jr expressed his opinion, it was actually Denny Hamlin’s views that he took note of.

Hamlin, on his podcast, said, “We are running too long under caution.”

He explained what exactly the increased caution period was causing.

“We have to find a way to shorten them up, but we won’t shorten them up as long as we’re doing what we’re doing, in the sense of ‘TV has to catch the pit stops live,” said Hamlin.

It wasn’t just the Auto Parts Series; even the Cup Series race saw a total of 19 laps lost to caution between stage end and green flag.

As NASCAR progresses, the number of advertisments are likely to grow. However, they will have to find a way to improve the viewing experience, as fans are pivotal to any sport’s development.