The only thing that’s constant is change, and the 2026 NASCAR season is proving just that! Before it has even begun, the season is shaping up to be one of the most transformative resets the sport has seen in years. A return to the 10-race “Chase” playoff format. The Charlotte playoff race moving back from the Roval to the oval. A horsepower bump to 750 for road courses and short tracks. A brand-new street-style race at Naval Base Coronado. Chicagoland Speedway back from the dead.
Even the Xfinity Fastest Lap Award is getting tweaked. Change is everywhere and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is paying close attention. With NASCAR already rewriting its own rulebook, Junior has now stepped in with a blunt, no-nonsense wish list of his own. And, in classic Dale Jr. fashion, it’s aimed directly at the people making the calls.
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Dale Jr.’s no-frills wish list
It started with a simple question from a NASCAR journalist on social media: “Which additional change would you like to see before the start of the NASCAR season?” Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s response was anything but vague, and it read like a checklist NASCAR executives probably didn’t love seeing go public.
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“Numbers! Put em where ya want! (Between the tires of course)
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Overtime. One attempt. I’d love to see it go but fans would be big mad when one ends under yellow.
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Boot? Yes if we can run the current course under yellow.”
First up: numbers. Since the Next Gen car debuted in 2022, NASCAR mandated that door numbers be moved forward to accommodate the car’s smaller quarter panels and create more sponsor real estate. While the logic made sense, the look has divided fans and teams alike.
Earnhardt’s stance isn’t about reverting to the past but more about flexibility. He’s pushing for teams to have more freedom in number placement, as long as the numbers remain between the tires for visibility. In other words, loosen the rules and let teams get creative.
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Then there’s overtime. NASCAR’s current format allows unlimited green-white-checkered attempts until a race finishes under green. Dale Jr has long been skeptical of that approach, and here he lays out a compromise: one overtime attempt, and that’s it. If it ends under yellow, so be it. He openly admits fans wouldn’t love it. However, in his view, manufactured drama shouldn’t outweigh race integrity.
Finally, the “Boot.” At Watkins Glen, NASCAR typically runs the shorter layout, bypassing the extended section added in 1971. Dale Jr wants the full course back in play. But with a key caveat. NASCAR must allow the race to continue under yellow without constantly shortening the track. For Junior, it’s about honoring the challenge of road racing instead of trimming it down for convenience.
It’s a short list from Dale Jr., but every item hits a long-running NASCAR debate right on the nose.
Dale Jr.’s NASCAR Hall of Fame fix
A separate NASCAR debate also pulled Dale Jr. into the comments section this week. This time it was about the future of the Hall of Fame. Speaking on social media, Kenny Wallace suggested NASCAR could eventually hit a wall when it comes to worthy inductees, comparing the sport’s situation to Major League Baseball.
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“I don’t see how you’re gonna put somebody in a Hall of Fame every year unless we don’t pay attention to stats. And that’s where I come in.”
Dale Jr. didn’t agree with the premise and he offered a solution that immediately shifted the conversation. Instead of narrowing the definition of greatness, Junior argued NASCAR should widen it, especially by honoring veteran drivers who built the sport outside the Cup Series spotlight.
“Larry Phillips, Ray Elder, Sam Ard, Jack Ingram, Butch Lindley. Ray was a 6 time Winston West champion. Beat the Cup boys twice when they came out west to Riverside. He was racing NASCAR and building the western foundation of the sport’s long before it was popular to do so. So many dudes who won hundreds of nascar sanctioned races in their careers,” he wrote.
The resumes back him up. Larry Phillips was the first driver to win the NASCAR Weekly Series national championship five times, doing so between 1989 and 1996, while also collecting seven regional and 13 track titles. Ray Elder dominated what is now the ARCA West Series, winning 47 races and six championships despite limited Cup opportunities.
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Sam Ard was a Busch Series powerhouse, winning two championships in three seasons. Jack Ingram, the “Iron Man,” captured two Busch titles and 31 wins. Butch Lindley won back-to-back Sportsman Division championships in the late 1970s.
Dale Jr.’s point is simple: NASCAR history didn’t start (or end) with Cup wins. If the Hall of Fame truly represents the sport, those foundational careers deserve a permanent place in it.
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