Dale Earnhardt Jr. reveals 'cheating' verdict on own driver as NASCAR star reveals prank

Dale Earnhardt Jr. gave one of his own drivers a hard time for a post-race moment after a win last weekend at Pocono.

Earnhardt Jr. stepped in as Connor Zilisch's crew chief for last weekend's Xfinity Series race and the pair combined for the teenager's first oval win in the series, but something Zilisch did after the race apparently raised questions of 'cheating' in the team owner's mind.

Zilisch emerged through the roof hatch of his No. 88 Chevy on victory lane to climb out and celebrate, something Earnhardt Jr. has previously flagged as a sign of a team 'cheating up' the roof hatch to gain extra performance.

The pair were together on the Dale Jr. Download podcast this week after the race, with Earnhardt Jr. explaining his feelings in full – and Zilisch revealing that it was his JR Motorsports team-mate and veteran racer Justin Allgaier who had suggested the move specifically to raise their boss' hackles.

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Dale Jr. reveals clear sign 'your ass is cheating'

"I said on this show several weeks ago that if anyone comes out of the roof hatch, I assume they're cheating up the roof hatch," Dale Jr. said. "I'll tell you where this comes from. Racing at DEI, I had a team-mate Michael Waltrip, the blue No. 15. When we went to Talladega and Daytona, I knew I was racing the No. 15 for the win.

"Me and him were gonna help each other if we could, and it really came down to who was leading at the end. I knew what they did to their cars, and I knew what we did to our cars, we were sharing a lot of information but maybe there were other things we didn't share.

"Michael would come out of their roof hatch when they won. I bet that roof hatch is cheated up, cos if you can raise that roof hatch a little bit it'll knock the air off the spoiler.

"That's where I've carried that from. You don't see many people pop out of the roof hatch, and if they're doing it at Daytona and Talladega I'm absolutely thinking your ass is cheating. I don't care if it's JR Motorsports."

While adding that it 'don't matter how you get out of the car when you win', Zilisch added: "Well Justin told me, if I won the race I had to get out of the roof hatch, because you were my crew chief."

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