"NASCAR has their feet stuck in the mud": Dale Earnhardt Jr. laments missed opportunity with 'run what you brung' 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently opened up on the missed opportunity of teams potentially solving some Next Gen woes in NASCAR. The governing body recently presented the 'run what you brung' concept to the teams for the All-Star race, which didn't end up going through.

In that proposal, NASCAR allowed teams to basically modify their racecars except for safety elements for that one single event. This led many insiders to speculate whether teams experimenting and getting creative with the tight regulations of the Next Gen car could've potentially solved some of its fundamental problems, such as short track racing.

This was an opinion that Dale Earnhardt Jr. also held as he spoke about it on the Dale Jr. Download. Junior mentioned how for the last few years, there has been 'no real change' to address issues like superspeedway racing, fuel mileage, and such.

"It feels like NASCAR has their feet stuck in the mud in terms of moving forward in trying to do anything about that. And the car doesn't race well at short tracks. Again, it feels like there's zero movement, zero movement on trying to make that difference. And here we were, with NASCAR basically going, 'Ah, here. Y'all want to f**k with it? F**k with it. Here's your chance.' And we ain't going to get that," Dale Earnhardt Jr. remarked. [17:25]

Having said that, he claimed that Denny Hamlin could've been 'the savior' in those moments, considering NASCAR put the ball in the teams' court with 'run what you brung.'

Dale Earnhardt Jr. believes there was 'a chance' for the greater good of NASCAR

Further sharing his thoughts on Denny Hamlin being 'the savior' in this situation, Dale Earnhardt Jr. claimed the 23XI Racing co-owner could've presented ideas to NASCAR. He said that Hamlin could've pointed to the governing body the specifics of the Next Gen car that needed work or tweaks.

But it's worth mentioning that Denny Hamlin went into detail about why the 'run what you brung' idea didn't resonate with him on his podcast. Primarily, Hamlin pointed to the costs that could skyrocket for teams if they followed this path for one race.

However, Dale Earnhardt Jr. lamented that this could've been an opportunity for the teams to capitalize on. He said on the above podcast:

"Damn it! I think everybody feeling about this isn't, 'Why didn't you let us do this?' It's more like, 'We had a chance to really do something f**king different and we aren't gonna get to do it.' It just feels like a missed opportunity." [18:40]

Dale Earnhardt Jr. remarked that given the slow nature of progress in NASCAR with improving things "that need improving", this was a chance where new ideas could've been given merit on the racetrack.