On the latest episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast, former NASCAR Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. delivered his verdict on the Joe Gibbs Racing controversy. During the podcast, Earnhardt Jr. touched upon how Ty Gibbs could have avoided it altogether.The situation arose during the Mobil 1 301 held at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, September 21, 2025. Both JGR drivers, Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs, had decent qualifying sessions. The #11 Camry driver began the race from ninth place, while the #54 Camry driver qualified 13th for the main event.Following that, on lap 110 of the 301-lap race, Hamlin and Gibbs had a run-in while competing for 11th spot. A few moments later, Hamlin made contact with Gibbs and spun him out on the track. Reflecting on the incident, Hamlin was furious with his teammate and reprimanded him on the team radio.Reflecting on the whole scenario, Dale Earnhardt Jr. pointed out that Gibbs could have avoided the situation by making things easy for Denny Hamlin. However, he chose to compete with the playoff-qualified driver for the spot. Following that, Dale Jr. pointed out that the #54 driver has not been a 'great teammate' and stated [00:00]:"Was it necessary for Denny to wreck him into the wall? Yeah, probably not. But damn it, gotta look at Ty's history. He's not been a great teammate at times."Dale Earnhardt Jr. further explained what he would have done if he were in a similar situation. Earnhardt Jr. said:"So Denny is right in saying, 'Look, man, you know you're not in the playoffs. We are. You're our teammate. Like, you'll totally let him go if I'm racing my teammate and he's in the playoffs and I'm not. Like, I'm not even thinking about him in the car. I'm letting him go because all of his crew, his crew chief, the engineer, the team owner, all of the employees of the team, like the team manager, GM, everybody who's present is seeing this. I mean, I'm totally gonna make myself as****e by running him hard, even for a couple corners."The next race of the Round of 12, the Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN Bet, is scheduled to be held at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, September 28, 2025. Fans can catch the 267-lap race live on popular networks like USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, and HBO Max at 3 p.m. ET.“We ain’t supposed to be f*ckin’ running them”: When Dale Earnhardt Jr. got candid about his views on NASCAR's road course trackOver a decade ago, in 2010, former Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. was featured in the famous 12-question interview with NASCAR analyst Jeff Gluck. During the interview, the motorsports journalist asked Earnhardt Jr. about the 'worst' NASCAR track, according to him.The former Xfinity Series champion pointed out that he was not a fan of Sonoma Raceway. He completed 18 events on the track and never secured a single win there. Dale Jr. faced challenges on the road course throughout his career and claimed his career-best finish in 2014 when he secured a podium place, finishing third in his #88 HMS Chevy.Following his experience, Dale Earnhardt Jr. told Gluck (via SBNATION):"It’s fun if you get lucky and not get wrecked. But you normally get run over and get pissed off at people that are actually pretty good people, you know? It pits us all against each other. I grew up racing ovals, and I’m a purist in that form. I just think we ain’t supposed to be f*ckin’ running them kind of tracks, you know what I mean?"Dale Earnhardt Jr. competed in 631 races during his 19-year NASCAR Cup Series career and secured 26 wins, followed by 149 top-fives, 260 top-tens, and 15 pole positions. Additionally, he led 8,234 laps and had an average finish of 15.80.