Dale Earnhardt Jr. highlights the different fan experience between NASCAR and F1

Dale Earnhardt Jr. opened up about how fans experience and enjoy Formula 1, compared to those in NASCAR. The Hall of Famer was in attendance for the Miami GP alongside his wife Amy, which turned out to be his first F1 race in person.

Speaking on the Bless Your 'Hardt podcast, Earnhardt Jr. expressed what he found interesting in his Miami experience. The former HMS driver claimed that in NASCAR, in any given race, cars run in 'relatively close proximity' to each other at all times. Because of this, there are passes in all areas of the field that fans celebrate or get excited about.

While fans cheer a pass in NASCAR when it's made, in F1, Dale Earnhardt Jr. observed something different.

"The whole crowd doesn't stand up and start to cheer at the mere potential of a pass in NASCAR. But that's exactly what happens in F1. So, they have the DRS, which means when a car gets within a second of another car, the rear spoiler opens up and allows, takes off all the drag and that following car can make this massive run really down the straightaway," he said.

"They start cheering before they ever even throttle up to go into that long straightaway. The crowd's going, 'Yeah, here it comes. Here it comes.' The way they enjoy the event is so, so different," Dale Earnhardt Jr. described.

Junior mentioned how F1 fans weren't necessarily 'mad' at their favorite drivers. Although Earnhardt Jr. admitted that at the end of the Miami GP, there was 'a little back and forth' and 'saltiness' between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was surprised by the sheer scale of an F1 car

Dale Earnhardt Jr. further shared another thing that struck him during his first F1 experience in person. He claimed that the footprint of an actual F1 car was 'massive'. He described that the racecars were 'super wide super long' machines with big tires.

Earnhardt Jr. claimed that everything about an F1 car was larger than one expects it to be.

"It would be almost like 25% larger than anything in this and sort in terms of the width footprint. They're large cars. And we watched the start of the race right from the front straightaway. And I was like, 'Amy, we're going to stand here and watch them come by at full speed. It's going to be like the time we were standing down on the tree at the drag race, man.' That's the car. It's going to scare the s**t out of you," he said.

Having said that, Dale Earnhardt Jr. claimed that the cars on the track during a race weren't as 'dynamic' as they seemed. But for the 2x Daytona 500 winner, watching an F1 car take off from a dead start was 'the coolest part.'

Junior claimed that the cars go 'freaking fast', while not looking as fast as they're going because of the lack of proximity to each other.