NASCAR 25 producer: Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s role in the sport’s virtual future is “far beyond what I expected”

NASCAR 25 Producer Matt Lewis believes Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s involvement in the game will be very beneficial for the fans. He had never expected the two-time Xfinity Series champion to be so involved in the sport’s virtual future with NASCAR 25.

For those who haven’t heard of it yet, NASCAR 25 is a soon-to-be-released video game that is based on the 2025 NASCAR season. As per reports, it is being developed by Monster Games and will be launched by iRacing in the fall. Fans can play the game on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows via Steam.

Speaking of how committed Dale Jr. is to the project, Lewis said in a release,

“He’s sitting in on meetings longer than he should. We’ve been on meetings a couple of times where like his business manager’s popping her head in and being like, ‘we gotta go.' He’s like, ‘I know, 10 more minutes’.”

Besides helping with the game’s official soundtrack, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has also been offering advice on how the developing team should craft messages within the game’s career mode. What’s even more thrilling is that the NASCAR Hall of Famer will comment on the players’ achievements during their virtual racing careers.

“It’s been far beyond what I expected; far beyond what I would have ever thought we could get. It’s really going to pay off for fans,” Lewis added.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a big name in the world of NASCAR. Although he doesn’t compete full time anymore, the Kannapolis native owns JR Motorsports, a four-car team that competes full time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Former Supercars sensation and current Xfinity part-timer Shane van Gisbergen took JR Motorsports to the victory lane last week in Chicago.

For this week’s race at Sonoma, Gisbergen will be starting from the pole position. Starting on Row 1 alongside the Auckland native will be Connor Zilisch, driver of the No. 88 car for Dale Jr.’s team.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. fires shots at fans complaining about NASCAR’s In-Season tournament

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is all for NASCAR’s In-Season tournament. For the first time in the history of the sport, NASCAR introduced a 32-driver, single-elimination tournament that stretches over five regular-season races on TNT Sports. Winning it will yield a whopping $1 million.

In this tournament, drivers will go head-to-head in pairs, with the highest finishing driver advancing to the next round. The bracket seeding was based on their performances at Michigan International Speedway, Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, and Pocono Raceway.

That being said, some fans think that TNT Sports has been talking too much about the bracket. Dale Jr. sees nothing wrong with that. Addressing the matter on his Dale Jr. Download podcast, the NASCAR vet said (quoted by Yardbarker),

“Why are you f**king complaining about this bracket? There are people saying that there’s too much talk about the bracket. But it’s literally, like, these two guys — Bubba (Wallace) and (Alex) Bowman — are in this thing for $1 million.”

“They are battling on the racetrack, spinning each other out, and whoever wins that battle is going to advance into the next round, and it’s eight drivers, then it’s four and two for $1 million. Why in the f**k would we not talk about this?” Dale Earnhardt Jr. added.

For now, all eyes are on Sonoma Raceway. The 2.52-mile road course is expected to host the Toyota/Save Mart 350 Cup Series race on Saturday, July 13. The 110-lap event will be televised by TNT, 3:30 pm ET onwards. Fans can also listen to its live radio coverage on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.