Before the 23XI Race And Motor sports at the forefront against NASCAR the antitrust lawsuit was settled during the trial, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and her sister/business partner Kelley Earnhardt-Miller visited their podcast studio to discuss some of their thoughts at the time.
One such topic was the revelation that NASCAR felt threatened to some extent by the Superstar Racing Experience and even responded by “locking down” tracks with numerous sanctioning deals.
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Its top executives even made clear their sense of frustration with SRX, both in documents uncovered during the discovery process, but also in testimony during the trial itself.
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Earnhardt, speaking on Dale Jr. Download, expressed surprise that NASCAR was so committed to the SRX.
“I have to be honest, it shocked me,” Earnhardt said Tuesday. Dale Jr.Download. “I want to say that I’m a big fan and I think I’m good friends with Ray Evernham. When he started talking about SRX and what he wanted to do, in his mind he wanted to recreate the IROC. The original idea for SRX was a series that would go into these local markets, and you would bring out these retirees and unique personalities, different forms of racing and give the local hero a car. The original idea for SRX, in my mind, was a good one. idea. I will say though that I wasn’t personally interested in it initially, I just didn’t have the bandwidth to get into it, I didn’t really watch any… No offense to anyone who was a fan of SRX or anyone who worked on the show… but I wasn’t interested.
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“To hear that they were even remotely threatened is very surprising to me because they are this giant that NASCAR and SRX are just a small thing. They were like 12 cars barely getting by financially. They tear up so much shit, they didn’t know they were going to tear up that much shit. In the end, they couldn’t make the money work. SRX left because it’s expensive to operate and the viewership numbers don’t didn’t justify the TV deal and the TV deal couldn’t afford the show, so financially it didn’t really work out.
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During the trial, current NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell explained why he wanted the sanctioning body’s legal department to review NASCAR. He said it became more and more like NASCAR when Cup Series drivers and their sponsors began competing in the summer short track and midweek track series.
However, O’Donnell also said the legal department said there was nothing to take action against.
Regardless, Earnhardt just didn’t understand why this was even a topic to consider.
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“I’m surprised by some of the comments I’ve read from O’Donnell and a few people, ‘Man, we need to put a stop to it or we need to take a look at it.’ Why are we worried? I don’t care (about the grades), people were going to be curious. …That doesn’t worry me. … I was really surprised by that,” Earnhardt said. “I’ve never seen, no disrespect, but I would never have worried or considered it a problem with the SRX.
“I would have looked at what they were doing…why do people like it and can we work together? It was interesting because it morphed. You had drivers like Denny, Chase and Blaney, but Chase goes out there to race with his dad, have a little fun. Blaney with his dad. They were paid to go out there and do it for a little money.”
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Wilkesboro and Bowman Gray
Earnhardt was even directly involved in NASCAR’s internal debate as Phelps, O’Donnell and senior vice president of strategy Scott Prime concluded that the sanctioning body needed to schedule races at North Wilkesboro and Bowman Gray Stadium before SRX had the chance to do so with the retired superstar.
From the aforementioned June 2022 text message exchange between the three:
O’Donnell: Wait until (Dale) Jr. says he’s hosting an event. Question of time. They’ll go to North Wilkesboro with Jr. if we’re not careful. We must be the first to return.
Prime: Okay – North Wilkesboro and Bowman Gray next year with Jr and friends if we don’t act
O’Donnell: How about this for All Star – make it a combo – Bowman and Wilkes Friday/Sunday
Bonus: Sick! And flip it for 2024. We have action to take. Just resell them. Should be a good work session on Thursday
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Wilkesboro and Bowman Gray were eventually added to the Cup Series schedule in 2023 and 2025 respectively.
However, Earnhardt said the former was in honor of Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith and the contribution to the state of North Carolina’s Build Back Better fund.
“Look, there’s a lot about NASCAR in all of this that I don’t know,” Earnhardt said. “I don’t know everything about how they run things, and I certainly didn’t know what they thought about certain things, and how those text messages gave certain things away. But I’ll tell you what I do know, is that North Wilkesboro came back because of Marcus Smith…NASCAR, you know, they had no role. Now they have to go, when Marcus comes in and says, ‘Man, I got this track back, I want to put it on the schedule.’ They have to say, ‘Okay, good.”
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“But look, NASCAR never said, ‘Guys, we’ve got to get Wilkesboro going.’ It’s no knock on them, you know, it’s no knock on them, they shouldn’t take this as an insult, but Wilkesboro is back because of everyone. The government, our local government and the city, a lot of volunteers. Hell, 20 years of volunteering, people even like to keep the grass cut for 20 years. All of these reasons, the fact that they kept the track in reasonable enough condition, to even be considered brought back. These people should be congratulated. You know, we can continue on this topic.
Earnhardt-Miller also said his brother deserves credit for getting involved with the CARS Tour and competing in a race that drew 20,000 fans even before NASCAR and SMI scheduled the All-Star Race.
He wouldn’t accept it, but it’s objectively true that his star power contributed to the success of an event dubbed “Race Track Revival.”
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