In one of his more recent comments that catch fire, Kyle Busch had suggested NASCAR to cut the cord with dirt racing for the better, echoing in his words, Richard Petty’s sentiment of dirt racing dragging NASCAR back. On the other side of the spectrum, Dale Earnhardt Jr holds a different opinion on this subject.

In the recent episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast, Dale Jr. spoke about the comments of his former rival on the marriage of dirt car racing and stock car racing ahead of the Bristol dirt race this weekend.

“I was entertained last year. It’s still too early in the whole process to really know if it’s good for us or not,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “I think it does connect us to the dirt racing world.”

“There’s a dirt racing universe, then there’s a stock car asphalt universe, and then there’s the open-wheel universe. And I think anything you can do to connect the two, the better.”

The NASCAR Hall of Famer believes this year’s dirt race at Bristol could be a little surprising. “They have made some profile changes to the racetrack, and how they’re gonna prepare the track for this race. So you might see something little bit different about how the cars react,” he added.

However, Dale Jr says losing the Bristol asphalt race was “tough“, having a component of dirt racing in the Cup Series would be fine.

Dale Earnhardt Jr on what NASCAR is missing with its dirt approach

Despite NASCAR having the Bristol dirt race on its calendar, Dale Earnhardt Jr feels they’re missing something crucial in the equation.

That something crucial is the “mystique” and “aura” that can only come from tracks such as Eldora Speedway, or when they embrace the dirt community and everything it has to offer.

“If we’re going to race dirt, we need to be celebrating historical facilities that have a lot of amazing things from its past, and taking Cup cars there and seeing how it works, and being embraced by the community,” Dale Jr said.

“We’re not going to the dirt community when we’re going to Bristol.”

Also Read: “NASCAR Is Not Important to Them”–Dale Earnhardt Jr Joins the Unofficial NASCAR Fan Club of Broadcasting Criticism