NASCAR legend calls for radical road course overhaul

NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. has called for a major change to the Cup Series season.

The two-time champion has waded into the debate about the make-up of the Cup schedule, with a number of fans growing frustrated with the number of road courses currently on the calendar.

NASCAR HEADLINES: Kyle Larson addresses Hendrick Motorsports beef as Cup Series driver open to huge switch

There are six road races this year, with the Charlotte Roval hosting the only one in the playoffs, and Dale Jr. revealed on his podcast this week just how drastically he'd like to see that number slashed.

“My opinion on how many road courses we should have is going to be in the minority,” he said. “I know that how I feel about it, only 10 percent of the fanbase thinks. I like two road courses. I like Sonoma. I like Watkins Glen.

“Looking at NASCAR in the 75 year history, it was born out of the dirt tracks and the short track half-mile style facility.”

READ MORE: NASCAR Cup Series star issues retirement verdict after huge official announcement

Dale Jr.: Nobody would pick Roval over Charlotte oval

Earlier in the show, he had opined: "In NASCAR, we expect more passing. We expect lots of passing. We expect lots of battles, we expect contact, we expect door to door.

"That's our expectation because of the last 75 years of what we've seen. And so when we come up on a road course now, and we don't see what we expect, we're not willing to allow this type of product to be normalized, or we hope that this won’t be normalized.”

He continued: “Why don’t we dial back the road courses? Same reason why a lot of people are calling for the Roval to go away, and the Roval at Charlotte to be back to two races.

“Well, the people are asking for that because the Charlotte race is one of the best races of the year. The car performs well on the mile-and-a-halfs, so why not get rid of the Roval? If you’re going to Charlotte at the end of the year, you pick A or B - what do you think people are picking? They’re picking the oval.

"Nobody’s going, ‘Man, give me that Roval’ - they want the oval! Right now they want the oval. In 10 years, maybe this s***** car is amazing on road courses and we want more road courses back.”

READ MORE: NASCAR team announce new drive for 275-race Cup Series star

Related

NASCAR Xfinity Series

NASCAR star hit by huge playoff blow with race suspension

• Today 02:00

NASCAR Cup Series

NASCAR legend issues Rick Hendrick warning to Carson Hocevar

• Today 01:00