Earnhardt Jr. says this new Bud Shootout format isn't for him
FONTANA, Calif. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. blasted the new format for the Budweiser Shootout Friday, saying he would dread racing in the Shootout next year because of the format.
The Shootout will be a 75-lap race next year, up from 70 laps, with a 25-lap segment to start and 50 laps to finish. The defending winner of the race, Earnhardt Jr. doesn't understand the changes.
“I don’t know what the extra five laps are for,” he said Friday at Auto Club Speedway, site of Sunday’s Pepsi 500 Sprint Cup race. “What the heck? They [NASCAR] don’t get it. They messed up The Winston, the all-star race, and they’re messing up the Shootout.
“They ought to line us up, make us run 10 laps. They want us to run around there for 25 first and have a 25-lap segment? That’d be cool. But 10 laps to go, all or nothing - that’s what the fans want, that’s what the drivers want.
“The last segment being 50 laps? We’re just going to sit there for 30. I just don’t get it. They don’t get it. I don’t understand. I don’t know what the focus group is they’re talking to to get these formats.
“It’s frustrating because I want to like running those races. I don’t want to dread them, but right now I’m dreading running them because the formats are no fun.”
Earnhardt Jr. said he didn’t mind the way competitors are picked for the event, which used to be a pole-winners showcase. But since Budweiser no longer sponsors the pole award, the race changed to an event featuring the top six drivers in owners points for each manufacturer.
“I just hate the formats,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “It’s not exciting, it’s not fun. Fifty laps at the end, right? That’s too long. What for? This is a
Shootout.
“What the hell, you know? They’ve got a reason.”
