Dale Earnhardt Jr. Defends NASCAR’s Controversial Actions, Claims It Wasn’t an “Intentional Goof”

NASCAR’s rules and officials are detrimental in deciding the winner of the race. They clarified its stance on the Ryan Preece incident at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which raised some questions. Some are even calling it a controversial decision.

But do you remember the 2003 run of Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Talladega? His win stirred up a debate on whether he went below the yellow line or not. NASCAR then gave him a green light. However, for a similar incident, Regan Smith was penalized during the 2008 Amp Energy 500. Currently in discussion is Ryan Preece’s incident on track, which might have paved the way for Kyle Larson taking the win. And championing NASCAR’s decision is none other than Dale Jr.

On the 30th anniversary of the race, Kyle Larson kissed the bricks. However, his victory did not come before a series of dramatic incidents. Which makes one feel that the racing gods were truly in his corner. With just 3 laps to go of the final overtime, it had all come down to Larson, Brad Keselowski, and Ryan Blaney. All credit goes to a multi-car crash,Keselowski’s empty fuel tank, and a red flag. Ryan Blaney lost the lead, and Larson took the victory.

Preece opened up after the incident, saying, “To clear the air. Normal operating fuel pressure is 66psi. When I slowed, the engine went to 12 psi. The engine would not go at WOT. (Wide open throttle). I ran out of fuel.” The incident raised a lot of eyebrows, as another restart could have shaken things up. Post-race NASCAR justified..

NASCAR’s Elton Sawyer said, “Obviously we’d like for it to play out naturally. We want our teams to race to the checkered flag. We did everything we possibly could. We kept an eye on the #41. He got turned around. He was really giving a solid effort and once he came to a stop and we could tell that he had, I think, a flat left-rear tire he wasn’t going to move. We’d already taken the white, we just couldn’t run by there again. So it was unfortunate, but it was the right call.” Supporting NASCAR’s decision was veteran Dale Jr., who did not see anything wrong with NASCAR’s decision as he applauded them on the Julyguy