Dale Earnhardt Jr. had an array of feelings following this previous Saturday’s Xfinity Sequence Spherical of 12 finale on the Charlotte Roval.
One readily available, Earnhardt was elated that his driver, Sam Mayer, received the race and clinched a spot within the Spherical of 8. On the opposite, Earnhardt’s coronary heart broke for Parker Kligerman, who missed out on victory in controversial style.
“Look, I’m completely happy. I ain’t gonna bulls— anyone. Sam received the race, and I’m thrilled with that,” Earnhardt mentioned on the “Dale Jr. Obtain” this week. “I assumed he made a hell of a cross in Flip 7 on Parker. I like Parker. Parker’s rattling dude, I labored with him at NBC and acquired to know him properly.”
With Kligerman main the race with two laps to go, Leland Honeyman bumped into the tire barrier. Moderately than throw the warning out instantly, NASCAR waited till Kligerman was a cut up second from taking the white flag, which might have made the race official. Kligerman’s crew initially celebrated on pit highway earlier than officers knowledgeable them that the driving force had not taken the white flag earlier than the warning got here out, thus sending the race to extra time.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Parker Kligerman: ‘It sucks for Parker’
Mayer made the cross on Kligerman in extra time to take the lead and win the race. Kligerman, who not too long ago mentioned the 2024 season can be his remaining full-time season of NASCAR racing, got here that near successful his first profession Xfinity Sequence race. It wasn’t to be, and Earnhardt believes that might have been his final alternative, not less than this season.
“Right here he’s successful this race, and there’s this automobile that will get caught within the tires badly,” Earnhardt mentioned. “As dangerous as I’ve seen a automobile get caught in tires. … This simply sucks. I’m being ripped into as a result of I’m thrilled that Sam received the race, after all. This was an ideal end result for me. I get each automobiles by means of [to the Round of 8]. However look, what’s extra essential to me than any of that’s integrity of the game. And it’s exhausting to see that occur to Parker or any driver.
“You’re a foot from the white flag which if the warning comes out after you cross it, race is over. And the warning gentle comes on. You may have spent the complete day busting your a– to place your self into this place. And this foolish chain of occasions goes to take it away. It simply sucks for Parker. As a result of he has completely labored exhausting sufficient and run properly sufficient to should know what it looks like to face in that Victory Lane and rejoice. I worry that he received’t get that probability, not less than not this yr.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. calls on NASCAR to enhance officiating system
The confusion over when the warning was thrown will not be an remoted incident. It’s merely the most recent in a season filled with officiating controversies, each in Xfinity and Cup. Going ahead, Earnhardt desires to see the method extra buttoned up. The NASCAR Corridor of Famer referred to as for extra consistency from officers, citing the quite a few incidents over the course of this season.
“Now we have seen over the course of this yr some very powerful issues occur in race management which can be irritating,” Earnhardt mentioned. “I’m hoping that this offseason, NASCAR tries to get everyone within the room say, ‘Let’s undergo a course of to learn how to remove a few of these points.’ I don’t need to be them. I don’t envy NASCAR, I don’t need to do race management. It’s not a job that individuals are lining as much as get. However I actually really feel like — I don’t know sufficient about this, I’m not educated sufficient about this… I couldn’t let you know the race director’s title [for any of NASCAR’s three series]. However I simply don’t know who does what and when.
“You bought three collection, and it seems like there’s a revolving door of race administrators or the people who find themselves making these specific calls to place the warning out. We gotta whittle it down and get some consistency. … They gotta get a little bit of a deal with on it to the place there’s simply extra consistency and a better normal and a better expectation from us, from followers of the consistency that we’re in search of. But it surely’s been a tough patch, and I’m hoping this offseason perhaps they will easy it out.”
