Dale Earnhardt Jr. says cautions don’t frustrate drivers as much thanks to double-file restarts
Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. enjoys working with interim crew chief Lance McGrew. // LaDon George, NASCAR Scene
Dale Earnhardt Jr. says the new double-file restart rule has made drivers less frustrated over cautions for debris.
At times, NASCAR will call a debris caution and drivers have questioned whether the caution is really necessary. But now that they have a chance to improve their positions because all the lead-lap cars restart side-by-side up front, they don’t mind them.
“Right now drivers aren’t balking and upset as much now when these phantom debris cautions come out,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “We used to hate those because we were in the middle of a race, and now it’s looked upon when we get these crazy cautions coming out, everybody says, ‘Great, it’s an opportunity to pick up some more spots on this double-file restarts.’
“That’s really your best chance to make up positions, unfortunately.”
Earnhardt Jr., in Atlanta on Thursday to promote the Labor Day weekend races there, talked about a number of issues:
• On interim crew chief Lance McGrew:
“As of now, he’s the man of the future. He’s the guy that we’re all placing our confidence in to make the correct decisions. He has taken quite a task on to try to improve our team and change the direction of our team and make us more competitive. ... I’m feeling pretty good about it. I like working with Lance, and I’m feeling pretty comfortable working with him, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season plays out.”
• On 500-mile races:
“I don’t mind them at most places … Pocono is quite difficult to be at, and running 500 miles there just doesn’t seem, if you built that track today, we’d never run there, and I’m not sure that would be the logical choice when we got talking about how many laps we were going to run. ... I think the shorter races are more exciting races. In the 500-mile races, there’s a good chunk of anywhere from 200 to 300 miles of wait-and-see where all drivers are just trying to protect their position and protect where they’re at. We can definitely cut back on that because that’s not very exciting even for the guys doing it.”
• On restrictor-plate racing:
“That’s not as quite as enjoyable as really just having free reign of having all the horsepower that’s available to you or separate the field by one’s ability to build a better motor, one’s ability to build a better race car. Right now everybody is in the same box with the engine – the plate pretty much make everybody’s engine the same power – and the bodies are so restricted, there’s no science in building or creating or improving them.
“So we’re all going to run the same lap time, and if you put us all out there together, we’re all going to run in this big ball, and at the end of the race guys are going to try to push and fit their car into these holes that aren’t big enough and make these wrecks happen. That’s what is going to happen every time. It’s not really that fun. When I look back on some of the … races they had in the early ’80s before the plates came, those were the best.”
• On the Atlanta night race:
“It will be fast for the first several laps on tires, and then they’ll fall off enough to where you will be able to manage what’s going on and try different things and try different lines. It will be pretty hairy, pretty fast. You’re going to see some incredible lap times on new tires late in the race.”
