Dale Earnhardt Jr reveals Amazon did not care | Sports News

The NASCAR In-Season Challenge could also be proving immensely in style amongst followers and drivers alike, however the new competitors’s potential wasn’t enough to immediate protection from Amazon Prime.

The streaming service, which agreed to a seven-year broadcasting deal with NASCAR in January, just lately concluded its first 12 months of Cup Series protection with the Coca-Cola 600, the Cracker Barrel 400, the FireKeepers Casino 400, the Viva México 250, and the Great American Getaway 400. The latter three races served because the platform from which the seeding for the primary spherical of the In-Season Challenge was determined, earlier than a large crash immediately busted brackets and Denny Hamlin provided a shocking verdic.t 

But regardless of the significance of these races within the inaugural 12 months of this competitors, Amazon Prime opted not to supply any commentary or protection on the subject, a very acutely aware determination by all concerned, in accordance with Hall of Famer and broadcaster Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“[NASCAR] tried to seed the drivers in three races, I believe, that were the backend of the Amazon deal. And Amazon didn’t really care about that,” he defined on the Dale Jr. Download.

“Well, we didn’t talk about it…I think NASCAR chose to say, ‘Hey, let’s seed the races in the Amazon portion of the season so that they can then drum up the excitement of the tournament as it plays out for TNT.’

“But Amazon was like, even us, the talent, were like, ’We’re not talking about that.’ I mean, there’s nothing…Yeah, so what, they’re seeding the drivers…We’re not going to do it, it wasn’t a story.”

Promoting a competitors that may in the end be broadcast by a rival community was clearly of no curiosity to Amazon Prime and Earnhardt Jr. As such, the racing legend instructed that sooner or later NASCAR merely does away with the three-race seeding system and as a substitute seed drivers primarily based upon their standings when the collection reaches Round One.

Despite his qualms with how NASCAR dealt with the seeding, Earnhardt Jr. is clearly a fan of the Challenge which he labeled “fun as hell.”

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“The whole thing is only for enjoyment and entertainment,” he stated. “I kind of like the fact that…the races are that unpredictable.”

The In-Season Challenge acquired off to a gorgeous begin on the Quaker State 400, with a number of crashes, together with a couple of mass pileups, wreaking havoc on brackets nationwide. Race winner Chase Elliott is the one driver with a win to his identify this season, remaining within the Challenge as a end result.

Next up is the Grant Park 165 on the streets of Chicago, the place the ultimate 16 drivers will compete to achieve the third spherical in Sonoma a week later. Ultimately, whoever walks away from Indianapolis because the Challenge winner might be awarded $1 million, an quantity Earnhardt Jr. stated could be “life changing for a lot of drivers in the field.” However, for these for whom such a prize is much less monumental, co-host T.J. Majors revealed some plan to divide the money amongst others ought to they win.