In 2017, Dale Earnhardt Jr. found himself in an unusual spot. He was sidelined with a concussion, forced to watch the sport he loved from the couch instead of the cockpit. It was during this time that he started to see NASCAR differently. As a fan, not a driver. And what he saw impressed him. NASCAR had rolled out bold format changes — stage racing, revamped points systems, and playoff tweaks. Some called it artificial. But Dale Jr. didn’t. He bought in.

“It really, really changed my perspective on what’s good for the sport, and what the fans want and what’s good racing and what’s exciting,” he said back then. He even defended the changes fiercely, “These stages… aren’t manufactured excitement. This is just going to award you in the middle of the race. I like it. I can get on board with this.”

Dale Jr., once a flag bearer for old-school racing values, found himself supporting innovation. And for a while, it looked like NASCAR might’ve struck the perfect balance. But now, years later, the tide seems to be turning. That same balance he once praised now seems off. And Dale Jr., who once rallied behind the changes made to the sport, was just left speechless by a sim racer’s brutal truth bomb.

A Sim Racer’s comment that hit too close to home!

In recent years, NASCAR has thrown everything at the wall. Format changes, car redesigns, playoff tweaks, new tracks, street races. The idea? Keep the sport relevant. Pull in younger fans. Keep the product exciting. But instead of applause, NASCAR has received boos — from its fans, from its stars, and now, from the sim racing driver Justin Hatcher. His recent rant about changes in NASCAR just left Dale Jr. baffled.

“Been thinking about something @dennyhamlin said on his pod. Imagine MLB made every team use the same bat, glove, and spikes from the same company. Pitchers could only throw 90 mph, and after the 3rd and 6th, the score was adjusted so a team could lead by 1 run. The best batter and pitcher then had to tell everyone their technique. A casual flipping channels and seeing stats might think every game was super close and exciting, but a fan of the game watching from start to finish probably wouldn’t. Probably wouldn’t be much fun to play that way either,” Hatcher posted on X.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. couldn’t believe what he read. He responded with just a mind-blowing emoji. That’s it. No words. The man who’s spent years defending the new NASCAR format didn’t even know what to say.  When a fan challenged him further, suggesting tools and data still wouldn’t help beat someone like Denny Hamlin and mocked the idea of “equal” cars, Dale Jr. threw out a cryptic line: “Craft beer sucks Richard.” Translation? He’s done trying to argue. Maybe even frustrated.

Justin’s analogy cut deep because it was accurate. It highlighted the artificial parity in today’s NASCAR, where every car is made to be so similar that nobody can stand out. Parity might look good on paper, but it’s not always fun to watch—or drive. Nowhere has this problem been more obvious than on NASCAR’s short tracks—once the soul of stock car racing. Short tracks are supposed to be gritty, chaotic, elbow-out battles. Instead, they’ve become high-speed parades and execution races. Keep the track position, cycle out well after the pit stops and cruise yourself into the victory lane.

At the 2025 Bristol Night Race, Kyle Larson led 411 of 500 laps. He was flawless. But the racing behind him? Flat. Dale Earnhardt Jr. watched his guy, Josh Berry, run mid-pack all night, stuck between 12th and 16th. No passes. No movement. Just laps. “I’m watching Josh, right? Kind of paying attention to where he’s at the whole race. But most importantly, for long stretches in the race, neither Berry nor the other drivers in the midfield made any passes. Nobody could move,” Dale said.

He didn’t blame the drivers. He blamed the car. “The car has a lot of physical characteristics that will make a majority of the short track races look a lot like what we saw on Sunday.” Dale Earnhardt Jr. was not alone, as Denny Hamlin agreed. On his Actions Detrimental podcast, he revealed the lap time difference from first to last was only a tenth of a second. “Dirty air is the number one issue,” he said. The tight aero setup and flat underbody are choking the life out of short-track racing.

And worse? There’s no fix in sight. “There’s really no talk about any big change coming down the line,” Hamlin added. Despite knowing several fixes that could help, nothing is happening. “I’ve been in those rooms, those conversations, and it’s all quiet.” That’s why he’s now looking somewhere else for the thrill. Somewhere, fans are already watching more closely. Somewhere, the racing still feels real — the Xfinity Series.

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Denny Hamlin wants to race in Xfinity

Denny Hamlin’s love for stock car racing hasn’t faded. But his love for the current Cup Series package clearly has. And now, the three-time Daytona 500 winner has his eyes set on something different. A return to where the racing still feels like racing. “Joe Gibbs Racing, if you’re hearing this, sign me up for an Xfinity Superspeedway race,” he said. That comment, made on his own podcast, wasn’t a throwaway line. It was a plea.

“That is how racing used to be. That’s how good we used to have it. We just never knew it,” Hamlin said. He pointed out what makes Xfinity different. The cars still move around. The bubble effect — where aerodynamics push cars apart instead of locking them into place — allows for bold moves. “I’m sure someone on social would do this for me,” he joked. “Give me a side-by-side of the last two laps of the Xfinity versus the last two laps of the Cup race. Tell me what was more compelling for you.”

He’s not wrong. Fans have already started turning to Xfinity for their thrills. Races like the Focused Health 250 at COTA or the wild AG-Pro 300 have delivered jaw-dropping finishes. Side-by-side racing, last-lap chaos, real tension — all the things the Cup Series used to own. “It’s so good. It’s so good,” Hamlin said. Notably, the last time Hamlin raced in Xfinity, he delivered. At Darlington in 2023, he started on pole and pulled off a last-lap pass on Austin Hill to win. That was his sixth Xfinity win at Darlington and his 18th overall. Since then, he hasn’t been back. But now? The itch is real.