NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr hits back at Cup Series champion’s criticism

NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr has hit back at recent criticism from Cup Series champion Richard Petty.

The 87-year-old recently launched a scathing assessment of NASCAR road courses, after the series’ return to Mexico City at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, where Shane van Gisbergen emerged victorious and secured himself a spot in the playoffs.

"The way they got this thing fixed, where if you win, you're in. That can't be right. You got somebody that's 30th in points that's going to make the playoffs,” Petty said in a response to a fan question on X.

“Hey man, 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. From that standpoint, I think they're going to have to jockey around and change some of this kind of stuff."

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Earnhardt Jr responds to Petty criticism

However, Earnhardt Jr only partly agreed with Petty and expressed his counter opinion on the Dale Jr. Download podcast.

"I agree with Richard. Road course racing isn't NASCAR.....There's been road course racing in NASCAR since the '50s,” he said.

"Being a road course racer wasn't important. If you wanted to get to NASCAR, you raced a short track somewhere locally. 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.

"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."

"I agree with Richard Petty. 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."

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