From constant weather scares to major incidents in the Bluegreen Vacations Duel, the 2024 Daytona Speedweek was off to an action-packed start. And while fans were hoping to witness similar action at the Great American Race as well, the 66th edition delivered far beyond our wildest expectations. Even on the last lap itself, fans were caught off-guard by the late yellow-white caution, which played into a rule that stirred up the biggest win controversy in recent memory.

While fans still recovering from the wreck-fest, the controversial photo finish under a caution flag has triggered widespread debate. Fans continue to question whether the win should’ve gone to William Byron’s teammate, Alex Bowman instead. Though there hasn’t been any tension stirred up by Alex Bowman, who is playing the team game, it didn’t stop Dale Earnhardt Jr and his wife, Amy Earnhardt, from sharing their opinions on the finish under caution.

Amy Earnhardt pulls no punches against NASCAR’s controversial caution-finishes

According to the NASCAR rulebook, “When the yellow flag is displayed and/or the caution lights are illuminated (yellow) during the white flag lap, cars will be scored based on their respective track position.” In this case, it meant that even though Bowman had the run on Byron and would eventually slot into the lead, Byron was leading at the time the lights were flashed, as revealed by NASCAR and FOX’s aerial image. While the incident certainly ticked off Bowman fans, they were not the only ones.

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Reflecting on the incident, Amy Earnhardt shared her thoughts on NASCAR’s approach on the latest episode of the Dale Jr Download. She stated, “I’ll tell you, when you (Earnhardt Jr) were racing, I absolutely despised a caution win. I don’t care what the scenario was. I felt like it was complete bul***t. I want a couple more laps.” Immediately, the room burst into an agreement as Earnhardt Jr shared his plight with such scenarios, “All my buddies on my phone were texting me, “Boo! Bulls**t.” I don’t like this. That ending sucked.”

Using Dale Earnhardt Sr’s elusive 1998 Daytona 500 win as an example, Junior retorted,  “I’m like, Hey, Dale Earnhardt won his Daytona 500 coming to a yellow and white flag.” But it wasn’t enough to convince Amy Earnhardt, who stuck by her opinion; “Still bulls**t.” Despite Junior still trying to make a case for himself, “Daddy might not have won. Bobby Labonte was coming!” Amy Earnhardt wasn’t convinced,  “Yeah he would have. It was his time.”

While it was clear that Amy Earnhardt’s view on a finish under caution resonated with that of many fans, Dale Earnhardt Jr brought up a few incidents from his career to understand how Bowman may be feeling.

Dale Earnhardt Jr puts himself in Alex Bowman’s shoes

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After Amy Earnhardt had shared her disapproval of a win under a caution scenario, she also asked Junior the question we all want to know the answer to, what would Earnhardt Jr think about if he were in Bowman’s place? Immediately, two notable instances from the Talladega Speedway stood out to Junior. During the 2015 season, Junior narrowly missed out on victory in a similar fashion to Joey Logano.

Looking back at the incident, Junior stated, “The Logano win, where we got a caution coming in to turn one. Harvick and those guys wrecked on the start and finish line and I’m passing the 22, and they said, ‘he was ahead when the light came on.’ I never got over that. I don’t even know, I just wanted to win. I’m not over that. Probably not okay with that, not happy with that. Feel like, “Hey, I had your a**! I was gonna win that race.”

But that wasn’t all. Juni0r faced a similar scenario nearly two decades ago when Jeff Gordon edged Junior out for the win at Talladega in 2004. He shared, “Losing to Jeff Gordon when they threw the cans at his car, I’m passing him, the #25 wrecks, and they determine that Jeff is leading when the #25 begins to crash, so that’s the moment of the yellow, right? And it just, those are tough to accept when you’re on the losing end of it.”

To conclude, Junior stated, “So if I’m Bowman, yes. This is bothering me. Look I’m happy for my teammate, I’m a company guy so I’m not gonna say anything publicly.” However, Junior also felt that deep down inside, the result had to be the cause of some pain for Alex Bowman; “But personally and inside I’m certain that he is having to stop himself from running it back over and over in his mind. Like, what could I have done differently?”

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At the end of the day, time heals all wounds, and Alex Bowman will be back up to speed with the rest of the HMS crew in no time.