Dale Earnhardt Jr. has never been a fan of the playoff format but his patience is wearing thin.
On the latest episode of his podcast The Dale Jr. Download, he made a strong statement that was directed at one of the system’s biggest defenders, Joey Logano.
Reacting to Logano’s latest public defense of the system, he said, “I’ll tell you this too. The more Joey Logano gets out of his car and talks about the playoffs the more I don’t like the playoffs. Oh man. The more he talks about it and I know he’s defending it. And I know he believes what he believes and I’m good with that for him. But the more he tells me why I should like the playoffs the less I like him.”
That’s a pretty direct statement from the 2-time Daytona 500 winner. And it sums up the growing frustration among traditionalists who feel the current “win-and-you’re-in” format undermines consistency and legacy, two things that used to define championship greatness.
Dale Jr. has always been a full-season points guy. The same system that rewarded his dad’s dominance in 1987 when Dale Earnhardt Sr. clinched the Winston Cup title with a 515-point lead and two races to go.
Dale Earhardt Jr. is Exhausted With the Modern Playoffs
Junior said he’s mentally prepared for NASCAR not to go back to full-season scoring but his tone was pure exhaustion. “I’m not going to be, oh, darn it, pounding the table if the full season thing don’t come back, ‘cause I really don’t think that they’re. That’s where NASCAR is going to go.”
“But, so I’m ready for that mentally, but man, I am exhausted. Uh, something about this particular year’s playoff is just not, it’s just not doing it for me.”
His words came as another wild postseason unfolded with driver eliminations coming down to disqualifications and technical rulings, like Alex Bowman’s DQ at the Charlotte ROVAL that helped Joey Logano advance.
Dale Jr.’s frustration mirrors a larger trend as even inside NASCAR’s own meetings, talk of going back to a full-season or hybrid format has quietly gained traction. The thigh is, top NASCAR officials are really committed to the playoff format. But sources have said “tweaks” are being looked at to give more weight to regular-season points.
But for Earnhardt, no amount of tweaking seems enough to get him back on board. As he said, the more the sport tries to defend the current system the less authentic it feels, and the more its biggest stars, himself included, and the fans, are tired of pretending otherwise.
Read the full article here