Dale Earnhardt Jr. sets the record straight days after news about Jim France’s 'not necessary' interest leaked

Two-time Xfinity Series champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently commented on NASCAR chairman Jim France's alleged attempt to gain an entry into the Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway. Since this news became common knowledge, France has faced severe backlash from the NASCAR Garage.

Reportedly, France's plan was to bring in an entry with the Cup team Spire Motorsports, which currently fields three full-time entries in the division. The plan was to bring in a fourth entry driven by IMSA driver Aitken for the mid-July race.

In a recent episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast, Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared his thoughts on Jim France wanting to field an entry in a points race.

"At this point, it just doesn't seem like it's very productive to do it now. And Jim doesn't need to do it. It's not like a viable business proposition or opportunity that I think that's necessary for him as a businessman to do it, right? It's like, here's this fun thing on the side," he said.

The Daytona 500 winner then shared that this could have been done differently if France 'shielded his involvement,' adding:

"What he could have done was shield his involvement, probably because it still got Jack Aitkens in the Spire car, still got him on the racetrack at Sonoma and shielded his involvement[...] I don't know how this all leaked out or how it was discovered, but it certainly could have been done differently, where it would have still happened, not bothered anybody."

However, despite the backlash France has faced for this unprecedented move, Dale Earnhardt Jr. backed his actions, saying he does the same in the zMAX CARS Tour, a grassroots series he co-owns with other NASCAR legends like Kevin Harvick.

NASCAR driver penalized in Dale Earnhardt Jr.-owned CARS Tour at Langley Speedway

NASCAR driver Conner Jones was recently penalized for an infringement in the zMAX Cars Tour race at Langley Speedway. Jones, who has previously raced for ThorSport Racing, now competes part-time for Niece Motorsports in the Truck Series.

Jones was fined $500 and has been placed under inquiry by the Dale Earnhardt Jr.-owned grassroots series for the remainder of the season for being responsible for an altercation with Parker Eatmon, as reported by Toby Christie on X.

“Part-time NASCAR Truck Series driver Conner Jones has been penalized for a scuffle in the @CARSTour last weekend. Jones has been fined $500 and placed on probation for the remainder of the season,” Christie wrote.

Meanwhile, NASCAR will visit Michigan International Speedway this weekend for the Truck and Cup Series races. Catch the FireKeepers Casino 400 on June 8 at 2 p.m. Eastern time. As part of the new $7.7B media rights deal, the race will be broadcast exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.