Dale Earnhardt Jr. puts forward his radical suggestion to NASCAR for the All-Star race: "Mashing it into one event"

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently shared his take on what the future of North Wilkesboro Speedway should be on the NASCAR calendar. The iconic racetrack has been the host of the All-Star race since 2023 after it was restored and repaved.

A big part of North Wilkesboro's revival was Dale Earnhardt Jr. himself. And now he believes NASCAR should make the racetrack more significant on the schedule.

During an episode of the Happy Hour podcast, Kevin Harvick mentioned that he's of the opinion that NASCAR should make NWS a points race, eliminate the All-Star race, and find another way to honor the sport's stars. He mentioned that North Wilkesboro would be 'a better race' if it awarded points as he asked Dale Jr. for his take on the subject.

The Hall of Famer agreed to Harvick's idea and shared his radical suggestion to NASCAR.

"You could get me to buy into the idea of somehow taking the Clash and the All-Star race and mashing it into one event. And maybe to kick our season off we have an All-Star event at the start of the year. If it meant Wilkesboro got the points race it needs a 400 lapper because I do think the racetrack really raced better than people probably remember," he said. [31:00]

Dale Earnhardt Jr. mentioned that people remember Joey Logano dominating in the All-Star race in 2024 but the track was 'widened out.' He mentioned how the drivers chased all the way to the fence in turns 1 and 2. As for turns 3 and 4, Junior said that the track had multiple grooves.

He added that going forward, the racetrack at North Wilkesboro is only going to improve as it ages over time.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. hopeful of NASCAR fixing its short track problems

Further sharing his thoughts on the subject of North Wilkesboro and short track racing in general in NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said that, in his belief, things go in circles. He mentioned that just as everything old becomes new and everything out of style comes back in style, short track racing in NASCAR would also have its glory days again.

It's worth mentioning that over the last few years, one of the key headaches NASCAR has had in terms of the racing product has been at the short tracks. But Dale Earnhardt Jr. claimed that 'somehow someway' NASCAR will eventually figure it out, which he believes will work for North Wilkesboro. He recalled the racing product on short tracks from 7-8 years ago as he referenced one of the most iconic feuds in NASCAR in recent memory.

"I remember coming out of the Martinsville race where Denny and Chase got into it. I come out of that race and I said, 'Man, if we could bottle this up every week, we'd be on top of the world.' Because I felt so just my adrenaline was running leaving that racetrack after seeing that race and thinking, 'Man, the drama and the excitement and how that all played out.' Martinsville was delivering there every single week till or every single race till the Next Gen," he said. [33:15]

Having said that, Dale Earnhardt Jr. remained hopeful that NASCAR would 'figure it out' with the Next Gen car. And that's why he claimed that the idea of North Wilkesboro Speedway and other short tracks remaining on the schedule needs to be constantly pushed.