"Awesome opportunity for us": Dale Earnhardt Jr. shares fresh perspective on NASCAR All-Star race

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently shared his take the subject revolving around 'run what you brung' in NASCAR's recent All-Star race. The former NASCAR driver took the mic on his podcast show, the Dale Jr. Download, claiming that in his mind, the All-Star race is still an important fixture in the sport's schedule.

Earnhardt further commented on the critics of the All-Star race who want the race to go away entirely. He said that such criticism on social media needs to be measured because it is 'a small part of the entire conversation.'

Dale Earnhardt Jr. further voiced his thoughts as he said:

"It's the All Star race, is an awesome opportunity for us to try to learn something, for NASCAR, for the teams, for everyone to not look at it as a place to discover and give a few ideas, some real testing, that's what this race should be about. There's no points on the line. I'm not enough of an engineer or a crew chief, I'm not smart enough, I don't know enough about this car to sit here in front of you and say, 'Well they should've just tried this, should've tried this, and should've tried this.' But there are some people who have some great ideas and I think that this is the race to throw some of that stuff out on the racetrack." [9:05]

Junior wondered, if NASCAR even had a conversation with teams, where they sat them down and discussed the same. He claimed that the All-Star race, is a just like any other race where the teams would spend money and the governing body would present a set of rules.

He claimed that if the teams do decide to show up, they race, and if they don't want to, they won't. However, Dale Earnhardt Jr. added that with teams having obligations with sponsors and partners, they'd have to do it.

But at the same time, Junior mentioned that a million dollars is 'too much to ask' and a big amount for any team to invest in running of a single event.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. downplays Denny Hamlin 'overstating' $2 million cost of running 'run what you brung'

During a recent episode of Actions Detrimental, Denny Hamlin had claimed that if teams were to follow NASCAR's 'run what you brung' proposal for All-Star race, it would cost them close to $2 million. This was a number which Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn't think was an accurate on.

Speaking on the Dale Jr. Download, the JRM co-owner claimed Hamlin was 'overstating' his estimates. Earnhardt said that while the proposal would cost teams some money, but not $2 million.

"I just don’t believe it. I think that is just an excuse to say, ‘Yeah, this is why we didn’t want to do it.’ And I think he’s inflating the cost to make a point. Will it cost money? He’s already mad about the damn purse being $1 million for 30 years. He said that over and over. That’s fine, that’s a great argument."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. added that the All-Star race should have a prize money of $3 million instead of the $1 million it has as of now. In fact, on the subject of the purse, Junior said that Hamlin had 'a valid point.'