Dale Earnhardt Jr. faces financial challenges and raises concerns with all the blame on NASCAR

Dale Earnhardt Jr. reveals lack of profitability in NASCAR teams. The NASCAR Hall of Famer has always been vocal about the financial challenges and concerns that arise from owning a racing team in NASCAR. This is due to the current state of NASCAR and the reason why none of the teams are able to generate profits.

During an episode of his podcast, Dale Jr. Download, the 49-year-old driver shared his thoughts on the agreement between NASCAR and the teams. He discussed how he never made money as a team owner, including his Xfinity team, JR Motorsports, and how none of the teams can turn a profit under the current agreement.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. expressed frustration with the overall situation and showed empathy towards the teams, understanding the significant amount of money invested behind the scenes. The financial situation of NASCAR teams seems to be quite complex after the new grant agreement, and NASCAR will likely need to address this issue to avoid future complications.

During the same conversation, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is also a team owner at JRM, shared an interesting detail about Denny Hamlin’s perspective on the profitability of NASCAR teams. According to Earnhardt Jr., co-owner of 23XI Racing, Hamlin supports the teams and is actively working to make them profitable.

Earnhardt Jr. revealed that he has had several discussions with Hamlin about the importance of profitability and how they have been collaborating behind the scenes to help teams achieve financial success. Only time will tell if these efforts will lead to improvements in the financial situation of NASCAR teams.

‘It won’t last forever’ – Max Verstappen warned about Red Bull downfall with Lewis Hamilton

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has warned that, while Max Verstappen is the current dominant force in Formula 1, “all good things come to an end.”

Verstappen has won 21 of the last 23 races and has broken the record for number of victories in a calendar year in each of the last two seasons, with 15 in 2022 and 19 last season, and has already taken to the top step four times out of five in 2024.

Max Verstappen dominance warning: ‘It won’t last forever’
Formula 1 can often be characterised by eras of driver and team dominance in the sport, with the likes of McLaren and Williams holding the sport under their control in the 1980s and ’90s, before Ferrari and Michael Schumacher were the outright force in the early 2000s, and Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel won four title doubles in a row before Mercedes took charge in the turbo hybrid era.

The switch to ground effect aerodynamics has seen Red Bull surge to the top once again, particularly in Verstappen’s hands, which has left 2021 title rival and seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton without a race win in 50 rounds.

Steiner made this point in comparing Verstappen’s success to Hamilton’s current barren run by his standards, but is also wary of the fact that these eras have a habit of ending abruptly.

“Red Bull and Max Verstappen are obviously doing a fantastic job right now. They are dominating,” Steiner wrote in a pre-Miami column for Formula1.com.

“I really respect Sergio Perez, he’s a very good driver – but he can’t get near Max right now. Max is on a different planet.

“He is already one of the greatest ever in his era, like Lewis Hamilton was a few years ago.

“When you’re on a wave like this, you have the confidence, you’re happy with life and nothing goes wrong.

“But all good things come to an end. It won’t last forever – just look at Lewis right now.

“It’s no surprise Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is interested in signing Max. Will Max leave Red Bull? He is in a good place.”

The next regulation reset in Formula 1 is coming in 2026, with the proposed power units bringing about a change in power to make the cars a 50/50 split between combustion and electric power in the hybrid engines, along with a switch to sustainable fuel.

Alex Bowman’s angry radio exchange that caused trouble with Kyle Larson at Dover decoded by Corey

Alex Bowman had a decent day in Dover with a top-10 finish. But it didn’t come without some drama as Bowman and his spotter, Kevin Hamlin, exchanged some fiery words at one point in the race. Talking about this exchange between Bowman and his spotter, as well as the preceding incident between Bowman and Kyle Larson, Corey LaJoie took a shot at decoding the whole situation.

Speaking on his podcast Stacking Pennies, LaJoie discussed what happened between the two Hendrick drivers and the subsequent radio exchange between Bowman and his spotter.

“There was a little bit of beef apparently between the #48 and the #5. The #48 was having a good run up there in top 5,” LaJoie said.

The exchange, in the eyes of Ryan ‘Skip’ Flores, the co-host of Stacking Pennies, was simply Bowman being honest with the whole situation.

“He was mad at the #5 car air blocking him. The #5 was running for the stage win I believe. He’s mad at the #5 air blocking and he’s ‘expletive’ about it and (Kevin) Hamlin says go up there and pass him, he’s not gonna give it to you. And then he tried to pep talk him and Alex told him shove it,” Flores said.

In the end, LaJoie wrapped it up by claiming that what happened between Bowman and Larson and Bowman and his spotter was simply part of racing.

“Hey, it’s a very high-pressure situation. You feel like you’re in there riding around. You’d think your teammate of all people would air block you less, but hey, it’s racing man,” LaJoie said.

Speaking after the race, Alex Bowman was asked about his radio exchange with spotter Kevin Hamlin. During the race, Bowman made a sly remark on Larson, after which he received an earful from his spotter.

“He’s not gonna pull over for you. You’ve gotta go ‘expletive’ earn it, let’s go. #5 elbows up, let’s go. Dudes are gonna give you ‘expletive’ all day, you’ve just taken, you’ve done awesome, drive like an
‘expletive’ the rest of the race, stay locked in, *expletive* them all let’s
go,” Kevin Hamlin told his driver. [00:12]

In response, Bowman asked his spotter to just let him focus on the race. After the race, when asked about his exchange with Kevin, Alex Bowman simply refused to elaborate on it.

“No. I don’t have any clickbait for you there, buddy,” he said (via Frontstretch).

As for his race result, Bowman opined that it wasn’t “the greatest” but they’ll move on to the next one.