"I knew we were going to win it": Dale Earnhardt Jr. makes bold claim during NASCAR Awards night 

At the recent NASCAR Awards night in Charlotte, Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared his thoughts on his driver's major win earlier this month. Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports, the team Dale Jr. co-owns, won this season's Xfinity Series championship in Phoenix.

This was Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team's fourth championship. But even though this was their first championship title since 2018, Junior claimed he knew Allgaier would seal the deal even before the green flag dropped.

Speaking about this on NASCAR Awards night, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said:

"I'm normally not this kind of person but I knew we were going to win it. I'm normally the kind of person who thinks about the odds and wonders how we might lose a race or what are the obstacles in front of us. But for some reason I just felt like the universe owed Justin and we were going to collect when we got to Pheonix."

Earnhardt credited Justin Allgaier's prowess behind the wheel, and his restarts which the Hall of Famer deemed as 'classic moments.' He mentioned that if one focussed on the #7 car, they'd come away knowing just how badly Allgaier wanted to win it all.

Further sharing his thoughts on his driver's contribution to JR Motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Jr. added:

"He carried the whole company on his back that night. Just proud of him and so thankful to be able to see Justin celebrate this tonight."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. reflects on whether NASCAR should reconsider Phoenix hosting season finales

Following Justin Allgaier's Xfinity Championship win, and Joey Logano's Cup title, Dale Earnhardt Jr. wondered if Phoenix Raceway should host more championship weekends. Since 2020, the racetrack in Arizona has hosted the finale of all three series in NASCAR.

Dale Earnhardt Jr and sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller celebrate with driver Justin Allgaier - Source: Imagn

But over the years, Phoenix has had its fair share of critics, who have questioned if the racetrack is worthy of hosting high-octane competitions at such frequent intervals. Sharing his thoughts on Phoenix's place as the venue for the season finale, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on his podcast:

“Should we race somewhere else for the final race of the year? We probably should move it around. I think that Phoenix has had a great run. But I’ve got to give Phoenix credit, they have put a ton of money into that race track."

Having said that, he acknowledged that Phoenix isn't a 'bad facility' to have a good experience at. But despite that, the iconic driver-turned-team-owner also suggested that Phoenix would 'Phoenix sometimes' pointing to the fact that every racetrack has its pros and cons.

"I think the general opinion is, there are more exciting race tracks. Look, you can build 50 race tracks, they’re not all, you can try your hardest to build 50 race tracks of different types, and there’s going to be a great one and there’s going to be one that’s not so good," he said.

For Dale Earnhardt Jr., Phoenix falls somewhere between a great racetrack and one that isn't as good. Even though it remains to be seen whether NASCAR heeds Dale Jr.'s words, one can't help but notice that they offer a fresh perspective.