Dale Earnhardt Jr changes his mind on Chase – Sports News
Just like Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has long referred to as for NASCAR to ditch its present Playoff format in favor of a return to its former 36-race full-season factors championship. Now, having seemingly misplaced hope that such a U-turn may ever be made, it appears the Hall of Famer has modified his mind on whether or not or not it’s attainable.
Elliott, who lately gained the Hollywood Casino 400 to secure his spot within the Playoffs Round of 8, has been one of probably the most outspoken present drivers in terms of NASCAR needing to change its controversial 10-race Playoff format.
Back in July, the 2020 champion advised The Athletic: “We’ve had a really good and competitive battle to the regular season (championship) over – correct me if I’m wrong – the last two or three years. It’s really been pretty tight all the way down to Daytona.
“If you simply take that as your pattern set over the primary 26 weeks, it seems to be fairly stable to me. The system could be simply effective should you simply had a full season. And if any individual runs away with it, so what?”
During a recent appearance on his ‘Dale Jr. Download’ podcast, Earnhardt Jr. claimed this idea was floated at a Playoff Committee meeting in February, although he believed that at the time it had maybe a two percent chance of becoming reality.
In fact, he felt even mentioning a return to the pre-2004 format was in and of itself a “taboo” suggestion.
However, with the 2025 season winding down and TV ratings a growing concern, especially with the ever-growing success of the NFL, Earnhardt has observed a shifting of opinion.
He explained: “I thought, ‘Man, that’s got about a 30 percent chance, 40 percent chance.’ It’s still low, still unlikely. But man, I was like, I really am surprised that everybody was willing to be that honest and transparent about it.”
That being said, Earnhardt remained to be fully convinced that this could truly be on the cards, commenting, “We still left the meeting thinking that, and my feelings were when we left the meeting that NASCAR was still like, ‘We hear you, but man, it’s just too big of a move. It might be too far for us to shift.’”
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Earnhardt’s optimism subsequently grew after seeing an article from The Athletic claiming that there is a “chance of going back to a 36-race schedule,” reshared on social media by Adam Stern of the Sports Business Journal. “When that popped up, I thought, dude, Adam Stern don’t tweet a hope and a prayer,” Earnhardt noted.
What’s more, Earnhardt also questioned whether NASCAR’s ratings decline could prove the catalyst for the organization to genuinely consider such a drastic change. “Is it possible that the decline in ratings has been something that’s convinced NASCAR that maybe that Hail Mary is worth it?” He later added, “What are we risking now? We have nothing to lose.”
With five races remaining in the 2025 season, it remains to be seen whether or not this will be the final iteration of the current Playoff format. Alternatively, another potential format which seems to be gaining traction is the “3-3-4” system, which might see the title determined over 4 races versus one.
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