“Don’t get cute and f*ck this up”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to news of clockmaker that creates Martinsville trophies deciding to shut down

Dale Earnhardt Jr. gave a heads-up to Martinsville Speedway following the imminent closure of Howard Miller, the clock manufacturer providing trophies at the track. He stated that the next version should retain the same design as the outgoing one.

During his racing days, Earnhardt Jr., who retired at the end of the 2017 NASCAR season, won one Cup race at Martinsville Speedway with Hendrick Motorsports in 2014. As part of a tradition dating back to 1964, he brought home a seven-foot-tall grandfather clock.

Howard Miller claimed it is unsustainable for the operations to continue, mainly due to the new tariffs. In response, Dale Earnhardt Jr. wrote on X:

“Whomever makes the next version better make them exactly like the previous versions. Don't get cute and f*ck this up.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

@DaleJr

LINK

Whomever makes the next version better make them exactly like the previous versions. Don't get cute and f*ck this up.

Martinsville Speedway is a 0.526-mile oval located in Ridgeway, Virginia. It is one of NASCAR's short-track races on the calendar, along with Bristol Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway and Richmond Raceway.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s former on-track competitor, Denny Hamlin, is the last race winner at Martinsville after dominating the Cook Out 400 earlier this year. The Cup Series field will return to the track for the penultimate race of the 2025 season, preceding the championship race at Phoenix Raceway.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove the #88 Chevrolet to victory at Martinsville Speedway in 2014 - Source: Imagn

Earnhardt Jr. may be long gone from full-time competition, but he still works closely with the stock car racing series, particularly as a co-owner of JR Motorsports. He is also one of the broadcasters at TNT Sports for five races this year, including the upcoming Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

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“They had those races at Martinsville”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. recalls former teammates' intense competitiveness after Chicago race weekend

Dale Earnhardt Jr. weighed in on the Xfinity Series race in Chicago between Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch. He said the two drivers should have more on-track duels at the front, similar to his former Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon.

Last week, SVG and Zilisch had a thrilling battle for the lead. With two laps remaining, the Australian driver pushed Zilisch off turn one, allowing him to take the lead before taking the checkered flag. While Zilisch thought the incident was hard racing, he said he would have done it differently if he had only known his co-JR Motorsports driver would squeeze him out of the corner.

The neck-and-neck battle reminded Dale Jr. of Johnson and Gordon, who are both on the top-10 NASCAR Cup Series all-time winners list. In a recent episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast, the JR Motorsports co-owner said:

“You know SVG's not frustrated, but Connor's a little disappointed right at the end of that race.” [0:01]

“It'll be a lot like (Jeff) Gordon and (Jimmie) Johnson. When they were at HMS, they had those races at Martinsville where they get out and go, ‘Man, you f**king run me over a little dirty.’ They're gonna have those because they're both good, and they're both gonna be up front.” [0:52]

While Connor Zilisch runs a full-time schedule for JR Motorsports, Shane van Gisbergen primarily competes in the Cup Series for Trackhouse Racing. Both are rookies in their respective NASCAR series.