No driver reaches the top-most echelon of racing right off the bat. There is a specific system in place where they gradually progress up the ranks. From karting to slightly higher-powered cars, and on and on, until they finally reach the zenith of motorsport. Take Josh Berry, for example. While he worked in the Xfinity shop, his racing opportunity only emerged because he’d raced through the ranks. It’s a system that works, right?

Dale Earnhardt Jr and Kevin Harvick felt that something was wrong. A lot of motorsports are at a stage where younger and younger racers are reaching the top level. Harvick was of the opinion that the system that NASCAR employs is broken.

In light of this, he began exploring solutions to the issue of driver development. On one occasion, he spoke to Joey and floated the idea of a point system resembling that used in iRacing. The point was to make the NASCAR Cup Series harder to enter, so when a driver does reach the Cup level, they earned it.

That’s when Dale Jr. revealed a deeper story. He told the Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast, “I’ve thought about that, especially the last several months, a lot. I was at a situation with Landon Cassill, Danica, a few other drivers, I felt like they were qualified to go racing the Xfinity race at Daytona. NASCAR felt like they needed to race in the ARCA Series. We were going to run Josh somewhere, in an Xfinity car at a mile and a half track, but NASCAR required us to run him in the Trucks somewhere before then. That was like a $25,000 expense that we really didn’t have, or Josh didn’t have in his business model.”

Now, while $25,000 may not sound like a hefty amount to run a race, it wasn’t something either Dale or Josh had planned. And it painted a larger picture. First of all, it can be expensive, leaping from the ARCA Series straight to Xfinity.  More importantly, drivers needed experience on specific track types, in order to get the nod to move up. Then what’s the solution?

Well, Dale Jr. has an idea for that, too. “ The best scenario might be a driver’s committee at the Cup level. There should be a driver committee that votes on the people that are entering these races. When you went to Darlington, you had to have a rookie orientation as a driver, even AJ Foyt had to go through that to be accepted. The drivers were the ones sitting and watching that practice, and saying, ‘This guy is ready, this guy is not ready.’ Maybe at each level, there’s a group of 3-4 drivers that are the ones that determine if somebody is eligible or should be eligible for whatever race. I feel like there are those weird cases where you get a driver who’s absolutely qualified, but they haven’t checked the boxes. Do you want to force that driver through the pipeline which he may not take?”

Junior isn’t wrong. NASCAR has been about the exceptions when it comes to bringing new drivers. Remember how young Joey Logano was when he debuted? He was dubbed the best thing since sliced bread. Or what about Kyle Busch? NASCAR had to come up with a new rule about age when he was first entering the Cup scene. Had they been put through the same ringer of going through every rank, would they have been the champions they are today? Well, that’s the point of the committee Junior is suggesting.

“The exceptions, right? That would be where the committee could work because they could see that. You as a driver would be able to go, ‘Ahh! I’m good with Connor racing here.’ Maybe not the other guy that needs to go do something else for a little while. That’s the honest truth that people have to face. If somebody says, ‘Look, they need more time.’ I know a driver who’s got two ARCA starts that’s already thinking about running the Truck. I’m like, ‘NO! Don’t do that! Get a couple more starts in ARCA before you try to run a Truck race and make a fool of yourself.” 

Drivers know when a rookie is ready to enter the competition. Look at Connor Zilisch. When he kept winning road course races in the Xfinity Series, most in the NASCAR community knew he was ready to enter into the Cup Series. At the same time, see the impact Carson Hocevar is making. While the driver sure has skill, drivers agreed he needs time to mature. Maybe what Dale is saying could work.

For now, let’s see what Junior had to say about the CARS Tour weekend.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. couldn’t be happier about the way the weekend unfolded

With the All-Star Race weekend in full swing, the Dale Jr. and Kevin Harvick owned CARS Tour unfolded hours before the Cup race. And it was such a massive success. Despite errors in broadcasting, Dale’s play-by-play action kept fans invested in the race, and the legendary driver was happy about the way things went.

He said after the race, “Hey everybody. Just getting wrapped up here after the CARS Tour race at North Wilkesboro and reading some of the feedback on social media. I hope that you, if you watched the race I hope you enjoyed it. It was a big, big night for the CARS Tour. We’re very proud and it’s something we’re very, very passionate about. Just an incredible night. So, hope everybody enjoyed the broadcast. I had a lot of fun being part of it. But I think the world of this series and its drivers and teams, and I asked everybody to support it this weekend, and if you did, I just wanted to jump on here real quick and say, big thanks, from all of us.”

Even racing legends chimed in. Mark Martin chimed in on X, captioning a post that said, “Everyone loved the @CARSTour race last night @FloRacing @FS1 Congratulations @DaleJr and @KevinHarvick on a great job. Absolutely great racing. It just shows you don’t have to have 60 lead changes to have a great race and fans to love it.”

Now, with just a few days left before the Coca-Cola 600, where Dale Jr. will enter the broadcast booth with Amazon.