Dale Earnhardt Jr stirred up a storm as his latest release hit streams worldwide. This time, NASCAR’s most popular racing legend has some demands to make directed straight toward the sport’s sanctioning body. The man of many talents is asking for an increase in practice session timing, the hottest topic of debate this week.

And out came senior officials like Elton Sawyer, NASCAR SVP of Competitions, to address his demands, and that too on Junior’s spin-off podcast on the Dirty Mo Media Network, “DJD: Reloaded.” Sawyer wanted to fan no flames, instead, he had an impressive counter for the speculations, one that even the fans would probably agree with.

A senior NASCAR official responds to Dale Jr’s comments

From fans to Kyle Larson, many have differing opinions over the shortened practice timespans post-COVID-19. But Dale Jr, an extremely valued stakeholder in the sport, made an interestingly particular comment on his podcast when he said, “I know that an executive can sit down with me and say, ‘Here it is, right here: numbers. We are saving money.’ But I know what he’s not telling me is that if I turned practice on. If it was a switch, and I turned it back on. He’d find a way to find that damn money to go practice and he will save up somewhere else.” 

Speaking with an owner’s lens, managing varying “costs” in the Xfinity Series, Junior also added, “If things got tighter we (JR Motorsports) would find a way to make it work.” Andrew Kurland and Carla Gebhart, hosts of DJD: Reloaded, brought up exactly this prior sentiment from their Dirty Mo Media Network colleague, Sawyer. But what did the Senior VP of Competitions have to think? 

“Great point. I mean, he wears and has worn all the different hats. He’s been a driver, and he’s now a very successful car owner. He’s also worked on the media side with his broadcast, and what we’re doing here with Dirty Mo Media.”  Agreeing “hundred percent” with Junior’s feelings, Mr. Sawyer also states, “If there’s a dollar laying there, then teams are gonna figure out a way to spend it.” However, Elton Sawyer had a very well-informed and analytical counter for Dale Jr and the diehards to speculate through the weekend, waiting on the GEICO 500 on Sunday.

In declarative rhetoric, he added,  “But my counter to that would be, are we 100% sure that when we go down this path because it will increase costs, It will do that, and they are gonna find the money somewhere, I totally agree… But will it increase the value by adding that content?” 

The primary question seems to be: “Will it increase the value of our product?” Sawyer then continues to announce emphatically that “if it does,” NASCAR is “going to figure out a way to make it happen. As we did when we were shut down because of COVID.“ But a big reason for these discussions to resurface has been the Cup Series champion of the outbreak year, 6X MPD-one Chase Elliott.

Is the practice debate even necessary?

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Discussions with Elliott after his Texas victory had Dale Jr almost “changing his opinions’ on practice. The 2020 champion explained to Junior on the Download that, as “professionals” at ‘the top of their class,’ it is almost unnecessary to spend an “hour and a half” when relatively smaller dirt track racers “get literally five laps of hot laps, and then they run the race.” This statement appeared to have struck a chord with an ardent supporter of grassroots racing, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

But as he referenced 7x champion Jimmie Johnson’s unfortunate outing at Texas and the probable need for “more practice,” Junior emphasized his personal perspective as another part-time driver and team owner.

Returning this year with JR Motorsports at Bristol after finishing P30 last fall for his annual outing in the #88 car, Dale Jr explained, “When I went to Bristol last year, was it enough? Yes. But it was barely enough. Right at the end of that practice, I started to feel like I was sort of gaining on it and everything happens so fast, practice, 20 minutes, qualifying, and you’re like, You’re just spun out. There’s no time to download, think and process…”

Nevertheless, debates over reduced practice times have only become more heated among NASCAR fans. Does it make sense right now as we head to Talladega? Probably not. However, the NextGen cars are still evolving into the perfect representatives for the 7th Generation of NASCAR racing. Perhaps this ongoing discussion is entirely justified until the cars reach their full potential.