“I think that I won so there’s going to be bi**hing, said Denny Hamlin when he tried to unleash his fury on Kyle Larson after the Wurth 400. The 23XI Racing co-owner was largely dissatisfied with the #5 HMS driver’s comments over his alleged use of the rear-view camera to block the HMS charge.

In typical Denny Hamlin fashion, NASCAR’s villain once again became the Devil’s Advocate as he sidelined Larson’s grievances as excuses instead. That being said, Hamlin might want to reconsider his stance on the debate after hearing Dale Earnhardt Jr’s rebuttal.

Dale Earnhardt Jr jumps to Kyle Larson’s defense over the rear-view camera debacle

This weekend at Dover International Speedway was a vital victory for Joe Gibbs Racing, as they slowly caught up to Hendrick Motorsports in terms of wins this season. Naturally, this made the battle between Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson even more intense, with the former sealing dominance over Larson by placing his car perfectly on each lap to avert an attack from the #5 driver.

That being said, Kyle Larson was highly vocal about the great advantage that the rear-view digital camera gave drivers over the traditional mirror. For Larson, catching up to Denny Hamlin would’ve been easier if it weren’t for the #11 driver parking his Camry XSE in all the right places. This naturally lit up tensions between Larson and Hamlin, as the 23XI co-owner sidelined the HMS superstar’s wishes to have the rear-view camera removed on the latest episode of Actions Detrimental.

But as time passed and more insiders caught on to the conversation, Dale Earnhardt Jr revealed his opinion on the matter. Spoiler alert: Denny Hamlin won’t be too pleased with the JR Motorsports owner’s viewpoint. On the latest episode of the Dale Jr Download, the veteran shared; “I just feel like, everybody’s had an opinion about it and me adding to it ain’t gonna move the needle, but I’ll say this, so I wish it were different. Now there are a couple of things that could happen that probably won’t ever happen. One thing they could do is get rid of that digital camera.”

Contrary to Denny Hamlin’s claims that the rear-view camera does not make things easier for the car up ahead, Earnhardt Jr believes that this revolutionary invention may be backfiring. He added, “‘The digital camera allows the driver a very very good understanding of what’s going on behind him, a traditional old-school mirror is blocked by row bars, and those little slots in the back of the windshield sort of make it difficult to understand what’s exactly happening behind you.”

With the various blind spots that the Next Gen car has, the use of the rear-view camera gives drivers significantly higher visibility and, thereby, security. But unfortunately, this makes this too easy for drivers, according to Junior. He concluded, “There’s blind spots where you don’t know where cars are going or where they’re at in the corner. So that traditional mirror is so imperfect that it’s perfect. And I honestly feel like, now they won’t do this because they spent a lot of money on the digital camera, but I think they should get the cameras out of the car.” 

Earnhardt Jr calls out the rear-view camera for being ‘too helpful’

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It’s no secret that Dale Earnhardt Jr is one of the most experienced NASCAR drivers still active in the sport in some capacity. Naturally, the JR Motorsports owner has had his fair share of experiences with, and without the rear-view camera, which gives him a proper gauge of which is superior to creating thrilling races.

Junior took fans on a trip down memory lane to the time he raced Super Late Model cars. Owing to the car’s lack of rear-view mirrors or cameras, the race triggered every sense in a driver’s body to stay in tune with their surroundings. The Dale Jr Download host alluded to this fact as the main driver behind his wishes for no rear-view cameras.

He stated, “I went and raced a race one time, and the cars, it was Super Late Model cars, and they had no mirrors, I found that really fascinating because not knowing what’s happening behind you put the driver in a very curious situation. It was just limited information and made it more difficult to know what to do.” 

Recently, Kyle Busch highlighted the Next-Gen car’s defensive tendencies. Since the rear-view camera plays a major role in helping the car out front maintain that lead, removing it could help change some of the Next-Gen characteristics to accommodate better, more action-packed racing.

Junior concluded by pointing out that the overcomplications with the rear-view camera were ruining the broth. He stated; “You had to trust your gut, you had to kind of hear, listen, and feel where the cars might be around you. I just feel like the digital camera is just too much, too good, too helpful.”

After taking a look at Dale Earnhardt Jr’s well-informed stance on the use of the rear-view camera or mirror, do you think that NASCAR needs to take a step back and rethink its innovations?