Dale Earnhardt Jr. has expressed his newfound love for Circuit of The Americas. Last weekend, NASCAR went to the Austin road course circuit, and what came out of it were thrilling races.
On his podcast show, Earnhardt Jr. spoke about how he wasn't a big fan of COTA. He said it was because of the road course track being a "long track" where cautions took forever and there were track limits.
"I hated the track, didn't like it. Bunch of paint, red white and blue, and s**t everywhere, not into it. So they go up the hill into turn 1, that was cool. But as soon as they get out of turn 1, it's just a big old flat piece of asphalt with paint all over it and they just trying to, it just doesn't look like a racetrack, didn't enjoy it," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. [11:30]
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"New COTA? It's f**king awesome. I love it. New COTA is great. I can't say it enough. Can't believe it. They didn't do nothing but take a f**king mile out of the racetrack. They just literally a mile off this stupid track and made it an awesome track. I'm shocked because I would have never thought that I would like it."
Sunday's Cup race in particular went down to the wire between four drivers, all in contention for the win.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. likes COTA more now, but prefers ovals even more for NASCAR
Speaking further on the subject of his new perspective on COTA on his podcast show, Dale Earnhardt Jr. expresed why he often stays in his own lane. He said that the reason why he doesn't build racetracks is how he didn't like the road course much before and now he loves it.
Junior further shared his thoughts on the subject of road courses having their place in NASCAR. He said that he doesn't generally prefer road courses as compared to the ovals:
"My favorite type of oval is going to be a beat up and bang short track style racing. The road courses are the biggest departure from what I really love about the core part of the sport that I really love." [13:40]
Having said that, he claimed that everyone is entitled to have their own opinions about NASCAR and he can appreciate that. But Dale Jr. pressed on his love for short track racing and him not getting warmed up to the idea of stock cars racing on road courses.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. claimed that road courses simply don't 'turn me on.'
