Earlier this year, at the New River All-American Speedway, 18-year-old Jade Avedisian made history. Driving for Wilson Motorsports in the zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model Series, she crossed the finish line in second place after a nail-biting three-way duel with T.J. DeCaire and Tristan McKee. But after DeCaire’s car failed a post-race weight check, Avedisian was declared the winner. It was a huge moment, not just for her but for the entire racing community. She became the first female to win a race in the CARS Tour.

Avedisian celebrated the milestone, saying, “Obviously, I want to be the first to cross the finish line, but a win is a win. I’ll take it. I’m very proud of everyone behind me. Everyone on these 24 cars did a really great job over the past few days, and it obviously shows.” Yet, what should have been a career-defining celebration quickly turned controversial. Critics argued that her win wasn’t fully earned. Fans recalled similar disqualifications from past NASCAR events, stirring up debate online. Even Dale Earnhardt Jr., co-owner of the CARS Tour, had to step in to defend her. “She was second when they crossed the finish line, but the leader got thrown out… she earned it,” Dale Jr. said on his podcast.

His support helped cool some of the backlash, but the moment remained bittersweet. But behind that win was a bigger story. Just months earlier, Avedisian faced a terrifying challenge off the track. One that reminded all of us about the painful chapter in Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s own journey. While she stood on the brink of a historic racing milestone, she was also navigating a physical ordeal that could have ended her career before it truly began.

Jade’s brush with the same fate that ended Dale Earnhardt Jr’s career!

In 2024, Jade Avedisian faced one of the toughest setbacks of her young career. She suffered not just one, but multiple concussions. The first came in April after a violent flip at Farmer City. That crash sidelined her for six to seven weeks. Then, in September, during the BC39 at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis, she suffered another concussion, without even flipping the car. The symptoms hit her hard and unexpectedly. Now, almost a year later, Jade spoke about her fight with that concussion and how she avoided a Dale Jr. fate.

On Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s podcast, Jade spoke about her second concussion and how it affected her career. “I couldn’t really have a conversation without forgetting things, and I knew something wasn’t right. I called the doctors I’d worked with back in April. They found a nerve from my neck to the top of my head that had gotten damaged. The racetrack was rough, it had rained the past two days, and yeah, it was just a misfortune that happened. That honestly took me out of a lot of things. Took me out of the whole West Coast Swing. Took me out of Chili Bowl last year,” she said.

But the 18-year-old Toyota prodigy kept her motivation high and fought back hard. “I worked with really good doctors and got a lot better over the phone, but it’s frustrating. Like, if you break your arm, they tell you six weeks, and it’s usually six weeks. But with head stuff, it’s just frustrating, it could take you four weeks to heal, and it could take me 12,” she explained. Even though she wanted to be on the track, she listened to her body and chose to heal properly, something rare and commendable in a sport that often glorifies pushing through pain.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. knew exactly what she was going through. His own battle with concussions began as early as 2012. A major setback came in 2016 after a crash at Michigan International Speedway. He suffered vision and balance issues. “I couldn’t stand up. I couldn’t turn my head without falling over,” he said in an interview. Eventually, he had to step away from racing for the rest of that season. Despite being cleared medically in 2017, Dale Jr. made the hard choice to retire. He felt he was still sharp enough to compete, but understood the risks were too high. “I knew I was retiring earlier than I wanted to,” he later admitted.

His struggles helped him understand Jade’s pain, and that’s why he praised her awareness. “I just want to say I’m very thankful you were smart and self-aware enough to stop and get it checked out. It’s kind of a new mindset we’re seeing in your generation of drivers, and we love to see it,” he told Jade. She didn’t just heal; she evolved. Jade stepped back, regrouped, and reloaded. Her career already included a historic national Midget title, wins in the GR Cup, and multiple top finishes on pavement and dirt. She was young but already seasoned by adversity. Meanwhile, Dale Jr. has some new ideas for NASCAR’s All-Star race.

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Dale Jr.’s Special All-Star Plan!

While Jade Avedisian climbs back into the driver’s seat, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is trying to steer NASCAR in a new direction from behind the mic. After this year’s All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Earnhardt voiced his frustrations with the format and offered a bold idea for change. On his podcast, he said, “I would be okay with some way that we combine the Clash and the All-Star Race. The Clash should be polling winners only. I don’t want anybody else in it… The All-Star Race should be winners only.”

It wasn’t just a gripe; it was a vision. He wants NASCAR to stop stretching the meaning of “All-Star” to include drivers who haven’t won races. For Dale Jr., the current formats have lost their edge. “Every time the Clash comes around, there’s this tiny group of folks that are going, ‘What are we doing this for?’ There are even people who own these race cars and drive them that don’t want to go to the Clash and compete,” he said.

But Dale Jr. didn’t stop there. He floated another idea, bringing a full Cup Series points race back to North Wilkesboro Speedway. He laid out a detailed structure: “I think it’s a 400-lap race… stages could be 125, 125, 150. If you’re going to take a Cup race to Wilkesboro, you don’t take any risks or chances. Let the race kind of go with the protocols we have in place,” he explained. North Wilkesboro, which hosted Cup races from 1949 to 1996, has become a symbol of racing’s roots. With the All-Star Race returning there in 2023, momentum is building. And if Dale Jr. has his way, that momentum could bring about the biggest All-Star shake-up in years.