Dale Earnhardt Jr, like every race fan, must have a prejudice toward his preferred NASCAR team. And after nine years at Hendrick Motorsports, it’s hard to believe he’s rooting for another racing organization. However, Dale Jr recently busted this bubble by discussing the contentious late-race restart at the Brickyard 400.
The critical moment of the race occurred when Brad Keselowski elected to pit just as the race was about to go green on the restart. This allowed Kyle Larson to gain a position and an advantage over Ryan Blaney in the inside lane. Although the Penske driver had managed to hold off Larson with some excellent defensive actions, the restart dealt a crushing blow to his ambitions of winning the race. Surprisingly, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was rooting for the defending champion to pull off a historic victory, but it was not to be.
Ryan Blaney almost had the Brickyard 400 win in the bag.
There was no way that the No. 6 Ford was going to make it to the start-finish line being low on fuel. Therefore, Ryan Blaney and his team made a strategic call to take the outside lane, knowing that Keselowski running out of fuel on the restart could impede their run. It did look like a winning strategy until the RFK Racing driver conceded the front row to Larson.
Moreover, it also looked like the HMS star jumped the restart despite not being the control car on the restart. This led to a huge controversy, with fans claiming that the race was rigged in favor of Larson. Even Dale Earnhardt Jr received flak from his friends despite him rooting for a Ryan Blaney victory.
“Listen, I wanted Blaney to win the race. I was hoping Ryan Blaney was gonna win at Indy. I got some buddies around me giving me sh*t that I’m a Hendrick fanboy and want Larson to win the race any Hendrick car, right? I was sitting there with 10 to go, hoping Ryan Blaney was going to win Brickyard 400. But it didn’t work out,” Dale Jr said via the DJD podcast show.
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