Dale Earnhardt Jr. reveals "real challenge" causing NASCAR 25 soundtrack to have only one hip-hop song

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has revealed a new secret about NASCAR 25’s official soundtrack. Besides being the executive producer of the game, Dale Jr. is also heavily involved in the production of the game’s soundtrack.

He wanted several hip-hop hits to feature in it initially, but a Lil Wayne song is all he could clear. Explaining why he could not add more songs to the list, the NASCAR Hall of Famer took to X (formerly known as Twitter) and wrote,

“To clear a song what has sampled music, you have to get the rights to not only the current artist and publisher but also the rights of the sample (artist and publisher). Getting in contact and a response with all those people is one challenge. Working with a budget also made that a real challenge.”

“Hope this helps. I know we can get a better balance. Hope to get to help with next year’s game and make that happen,” he added.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

@DaleJr

@IsaiahCurry__ @Nascar25Game @ENASCARGG @NASCAR @iRacing Clearing hip hop music was really tough. I had a Lil Wayne song I wanted on there as well as others. To clear a song what has sampled music, you have to get the rights to not only the current artist and publisher but also the rights of the sample (artist and publisher)

A few days back, Dale Earnhardt Jr. revealed in an episode of his Dale Jr. Download podcast that he and RFK Racing spotter T.J. Majors have been recording about 30 to 45 different clips that will play in the game’s career mode. But what are these scenarios?

“Like hiring a new crew chief or losing somebody important on their team, like an engineer, or gaining a new sponsor, or getting themselves into trouble, or whatever,” Dale Jr. mentioned. "And so when this scenario sort of happens, or you choose this route, you’ll hear from us, and what we think about it.”

Well, that much information is enough to get the fans all excited about the release. Thanks to Monster Games and iRacing Studios, the upcoming sim racing game is expected to release on October 14, 2025, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. demands changes in NASCAR’s overtime rules

Dale Earnhardt Jr. thinks that there’s no point in having overtime restarts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The 50-year-old, who is a two-time Xfinity Series champion himself, sees overtime restarts as opportunities to crash more often.

Explaining his stance on the Dale Jr. Download podcast, the Kannapolis native said,

“If I was in charge, I would not have overtime finishes in Xfinity or Truck. I don’t think it serves any real purpose other than presenting more opportunities to crash and tear up more stuff.”

“The race cars and trucks, those are $150,000 to $250,000 vehicles. I think we lose sight of that. No one really thinks any more of like, ‘Damn, that was a couple million dollars worth of equipment got destroyed,’” he added.

However, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is not sure how the fans would react to that. That being said, the NASCAR vet is okay with the Cup Series running overtimes. He feels that the Cup Series regulars have more experience and skill, meaning that they (in most cases) will not take themselves or the entire field out while racing in overtime finishes.