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“Hate the Take” – Brad Keselowski Doesn’t Bite His Tongue as HMS Legend Takes Opposing Stance to Dale Jr

Published 07/17/2023, 1:32 PM EDT

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Hendrick Motorsports have been home to many NASCAR legends, such as Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Steve Letarte. Even though the three legends share a former team, their opinions about certain things in NASCAR are totally different. For example, Brad Keselowski’s and Steve Letarte’s opinions on practice sessions are north and south. Steve Letarte, who clearly doesn’t favor practice sessions, shared his take on a recent podcast episode of Dirty Mo Media. 

Dirty Mo Media posted a clip on Twitter from the episode featuring Steve Letarte. In the clip, Letarte was seen sharing his take on ‘practice before race.’ Brad Keselowski retweeted that post and shared his standpoint on the same topic.

But that’s not just it. In addition to sharing his viewpoint, Keselowski also criticized Steve Letarte’s take. Do you know what’s even more surprising? The owner of Dirty Mo Media, i.e., Dale Earnhardt Jr, had equally opposite views on practice sessions than Steve Letarte.

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Steve Letarte’s take didn’t sit well with Brad Keselowski

Steve Letarte is one of the legendary Crew Chiefs of NASCAR, who currently works as a sports consultant for Spire Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup series and truck series. Brad Keselowski recently shared his take on “practice session” in NASCAR.

Retweeting the Dirty Mo Media’s post featuring Steve Letarte, Keselowski wrote, “Love Steve, Hate the take Cup series needs practice back right now.” But what did Steve Letarte say about practice sessions that upset Keselowski?

Talking about practice sessions in NASCAR, Letarte said, “If you gave these guys two hours of practice, you know what would happen? The big teams would whip everybody’s butt.” Steve Letarte further explained why he doesn’t favor the idea of practice sessions before a race. Talking about the same, he said, “So let me explain to the fan what happens. Everybody says, oh, give them an hour of practice because that’d be easier for the small teams. They don’t have all the tools.”

Watch The Story: “If I Ever See This A**hole…” – Dale Earnhardt Jr Opens up About Holding a Grudge Against One Particular Driver Since 1996

As it appears, Steve Letarte’s major concern when it comes to practice sessions is the leakage of crucial driver stats to big teams. In this reference, the retired chief crew said, “You go run for an hour and then when practice ends, Hendrick and Gibbs and all those people, their simulators run all night long. Like, you don’t want to give them information, right? The more information, the better they’re going to.” If we think from Steve Letarte’s perspective, he isn’t all wrong. But it is not just Brad Keselowski, but also Dale Earnhardt Jr who thinks otherwise. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr thinks the opposite of Steve Letarte when it comes to a practice session

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On June 9, Bob Pockrass, a NASCAR reporter, retweeted a NASCAR fan’s statement that was aligned in favor of the practice session. The fan’s statement said, “I know Nascar says it’s about costs, but as a fan I so wish they would go back to the old full qualifying and race practice schedule. Cup cars on track all 3 days is what made it worth attending the whole race weekend.” Retweeting this, Pockrass shared his take on practice sessions. 

The NASCAR reporter’s tweet said, “Absolutely this is an impact — and also the fact there are some great fan-viewing garage setups and teams/drivers now don’t spend a lot of time (if any) in the garage is understandably frustrating. NASCAR needs to keep exploring ways for some type of at-track events on Fridays.” Now here’s an interesting thing that happened when the NASCAR reporter shared his standpoint on practice sessions. Dale Earnhardt Jr. commented on Bob Pockrass’s post and shared how he also misses the practice sessions. 

Remembering the old racing days and how he used to enjoy practice sessions, Earnhardt Jr. commented, “I miss broadcasting practices and trying to learn who was quick and who was looking for speed. Those storylines developing throughout the Friday/Saturday activity were an enjoyable part of my job.” This clearly reflects Earnhardt Jr’s positive interest in practice sessions. 

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Earnhardt Jr used to race for Hendrick Motorsports. And the reason he used to love practice sessions could also be that Hendrick Motorsports has an advantage over other teams, in terms of analyzing the driver’s performance. When we look at Steve Letarte’s statement, this is exactly what he said about big teams taking advantage of the technology they had. 

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Read More: NASCAR Insider Firmly Believes Brad Keselowski’s Ownership Slump Is Finally Headed Towards an End

What’s your take on NASCAR conducting practice sessions? Who would you take sides with – Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad Keselowski or Steve Letarte?

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Written by:

Shanu Singh

29Articles

One take at a time

Shanu Singh is a NASCAR writer at EssentiallySports. With a passion for motorsports, he has been covering the thrilling world of NASCAR for a while now. Known for his expertise and insightful reporting, Shanu has a keen eye for the details that help him deliver accurate NASCAR updates to fans.
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Edited by:

Ranvijay Singh