Sports
Dire Repercussions of Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Shocking Booth Departure for NBC
Dire Repercussions of Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Shocking Booth Departure for NBC
The NASCAR silly season may be over, but Dale Earnhardt Jr reportedly made the biggest move of the season, which can have massive implications for the sport in the near future. The former Cup Series driver has been an integral part of NBC’s race coverage for several years, but that won’t be the case any longer. Instead, Junior is set to take a break this year and reportedly join Amazon Prime and Warner Bros Discovery for the 10 races they will air starting from the 2025 season.
This is going to be a huge loss for NBC, who had become wildly popular with NASCAR fans in the last several years, with a bit of credit going to Junior’s presence in the booth. With him gone, fans’ interest in their product will go down when they take the reins from FOX for the second half of the Cup Series campaign. It was no secret that Junior’s contract with the media house was up and that he had not signed a new deal. It’s not a surprise to see him go somewhere else, but what will this mean for NBC and the sport?
NASCAR viewership can be affected if fans don’t tune into NBC, which is likely
Even after 7 years of his retirement from full-time racing, Dale Earnhardt Jr is arguably the most popular and influential figure in stock car racing today. He can draw millions of eyeballs wherever he goes and that perhaps will be the biggest loss to NBC. Many people believe that Junior was the glue that held the NBC booth together. Make no mistake, the other three members of the booth are no slouches. But they are nothing like the 2-time Xfinity Series champion.
During his time in the NBC booth, Junior made several of his catchphrases popular with the fans. Perhaps the most popular one was “slide job” from the Chicagoland Speedway when Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch raced each other hard in 2018. The 49-year-old also had the unique ability to call races in such a way that would make a viewer feel like they were watching it with their friends. He truly was a magician when it came to commentary.
Fans do not believe that Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte, or Rick Allen had the knowledge, insight, and delivery Junior had. In fact, not many fans were ever entirely happy with the 3 of them. Some believe that Rick Allen was at times way too loud during races, Jeff Burton’s commentary often fell flat and Steve Letarte was just too inconsistent. All 3 have had their moments in the booth on multiple occasions, but no one was near as consistent as Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So you’d be forgiven if you think that their product’s quality is not gonna be what it has been for the past six years because it probably won’t. What effect could that have on NBC and NASCAR, at least in the short term? The old enemy. Declining viewerships. With Junior out of the scene starting this very season, it would not be surprising if TV ratings see a massive dip when it’s NBC’s turn to broadcast the races.
READ: Chase Elliott penalized NASCAR Board
But why did Junior leave NBC in the first place? Everyone knew his contract was over by the end of the 2023 season. It’s uncertain if NBC was reluctant to offer him a new deal (which seems unlikely) or if the former Cup Series driver declined an extension. But it seems like the decision was probably made a while ago and was only announced recently because the signs were all there for everyone to see if you noticed. And now, his decision for the future will take him into the world of streaming platforms.
Dale Earnhardt Jr has seemingly landed an outstanding deal for himself
As per a report in Forbes, Junior has publicly said that he was essentially out of a job in the broadcasting world after the 2023 Cup Series season. This was evident in the fact that all of Dirty Mo Media’s content was taken off NBC’s subsidiaries like Peacock and put on YouTube. That was the biggest sign that something wasn’t right between the two parties, and Junior’s comments, although diplomatic, were suggestive of the same.
“I definitely love being in the broadcast booth and want to continue to doing that. We’ve had some great conversations with all of NASCAR’s TV partners. My home and my love is at NBC, and I’d love to be back with them. So, we’ll see where it goes. But right now, I really don’t have a job in terms of broadcasting,” the quote read.
Some fans believe that Junior went out and revealed this to the world to put pressure on NBC to either offer him a better contract or bring the attention of its competitors to the fact that he was a free agent. That’s where Amazon Prime and Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly swooped in and pulled off the biggest heist in NASCAR in quite a while now.
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A former Ferrari engineer has criticised the decision to bring in Lewis Hamilton and thinks the Brit’s presence will mean “a lot of potential for drama”.
At the age of 40, seven-time Formula 1 champion Hamilton will form a formidable driver partnership with Charles Leclerc. His big switch comes at the expense of Carlos Sainz, who has performed well for the Italian squad but who was axed so they had room for their blockbuster new signing.
But not everyone of a Ferrari persuasion is convinced that it will go well. Ernest Knoors, who spent many years as an engineer at Maranello, specialising in power units, worries that Hamilton’s presence could do more harm than good for a team that is finding its groove under Frederic Vasseur.
“A big name like Hamilton also brings a lot of politics and if politics within Ferrari are not managed well, then there is a lot of potential for drama,” he told Formule1.nl. “Hamilton has the tendency that if things do not work out, he turns his whole car upside down and starts experimenting.
“Ferrari believes very much in the big personalities and will follow him. But Hamilton is just someone you have to guide a little bit and not give the freedom to rebuild the whole car, because then it will go completely wrong. So I do not know if it is such a smart move, but of course it is nice for the sport.”
News of Hamilton’s planned move broke on February 1, coinciding with football’s Transfer Deadline Day. That the back pages of many newspapers were dominated by the decision of Hamilton to swap Mercedes for Ferrari was testament to the magnitude of the announcement.
Sainz was not surprised as he had been informed by his team of the plan ahead of it being made public. But the Spaniard responded well with two victories to date this season and five further appearances on the podium, on the way to what looks likely to be a fifth-placed finish in the championship – two spots and 54 points ahead of Hamilton.
Sainz has signed for Williams next year and, after several years of running at the front of the grid, will focus on his new challenge of helping restore one of the grid’s most historic teams to its former glory. But Knoors believes he should have been kept on by Ferrari instead.
The Dutchman added: “I see Lewis Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari more as a PR move. With all due respect, Hamilton is not going to take that Ferrari from P6 to P1. He will get the most out of it, but what Ferrari has to do is make that car faster. And if you make that car faster, you can easily drive at the front with the current line-up.
“Besides, as a team you have to look further on the horizon. If Hamilton becomes champion in the coming years, he and Ferrari will become immortal. But if you want to build a team with talent for the next five years, are you going to build on Hamilton? No, because he will really be finished after two or three years. That is why I would have kept the very strong line-up that Ferrari has now.”
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Chase Elliott had a front-row seat for one of NASCAR’s most bizarre moments of the 2024 Cup Series season. At the start of Stage 2, the pace car dove onto pit road in front of Elliott; however, it was a tad too late. The pace car made contact with the sand barrels at the entry of pit road and caused a red flag for cleanup.
Initially, there was some speculation on the NBC Sports broadcast, even from the No. 9 team, that Elliott made contact with the pace car. Fortunately, the pace car didn’t slide across the No. 9 car’s nose, but it undoubtedly provided one of NASCAR’s craziest red flag moments in recent memory.
Below, you can listen to Elliott and the No. 9 team react to the pace car crashing into the sand barrels on pit road at Phoenix during Championship Weekend!
Reflecting on the recent retirement of 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., Earnhardt didn’t mince words about the toll NASCAR takes on its drivers. Speaking candidly, the two-time Daytona 500 winner admitted that the pressure to perform every week left him feeling miserable for most of his racing career—a sentiment he believes is shared by many of his peers.
“Right or wrong, racing made me a miserable person 90% of the time,” Earnhardt confessed. “And him too. I mean, ask Kyle Busch, ask anybody—unless you’re winning, you’re not happy.”
For these elite drivers, the sport is a relentless grind. A podium finish might bring temporary relief, but anything short of victory is often a source of frustration. The immense effort poured into preparation and execution rarely feels like it pays off unless the checkered flag is theirs.
Earnhardt highlighted the mental toll of falling short, explaining how the relentless focus on winning can overshadow the joy of simply competing. Even a solid performance feels hollow compared to the euphoria of a win.
“Unless you’re winning, you’re not happy at all,” he said. “You’re okay with a good run, but for the most part, all the effort it takes just to run good—it doesn’t weigh out.”
For drivers, the stakes are sky-high every week. Sponsors, fans, and teams demand nothing less than excellence, leaving little room for error or personal satisfaction in anything less than a dominant performance.
Earnhardt also shared insights into his friendship with Martin Truex Jr., who recently announced his retirement. While the two often spend time hunting together during NASCAR’s off-season, Earnhardt noted that the stress of racing even creeps into their leisure activities.
“When I’m with him during hunting season, it’s always in the back of his mind,” Earnhardt said. “It’s that stressful part of the year when he’s as miserable as he’s going to be.”
Now, with Truex stepping away from the track, Earnhardt looks forward to seeing a lighter, happier version of his long-time friend. Without the weight of weekly competition hanging over him, Truex might finally be able to relax and enjoy the outdoor lifestyle he cherishes.
“It’ll be fun to see him loosen up,” Earnhardt added.
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