"That's peak NASCAR": Dale Earnhardt Jr. drops his verdict on racing product in Atlanta 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently shared his thoughts on the racing product at Daytona compared to Sunday's race at Atlanta. During the latest episode of his podcast show, Earnhardt addressed how the racing at Daytona, while great, wasn't as good as it was in the most recent Cup race.

It's worth mentioning that the racing product at Atlanta emerged with a completely different character after the repave in 2022. This is because after the repave, the racetrack began producing superspeedway-like racing without actually being a track of the length or technical character of a Daytona or a Talladega.

The former Hendrick Motorsports driver claimed that NASCAR had 'a great way to start the season', but it could still be better. He mentioned that it is okay to admit that racing can be different and be better than what it was in reality at Daytona.

Earnhardt further spoke about what he saw at Atlanta as he said (via the Dale Jr. Download podcast):

"We go to Atlanta, and we saw the peak, that's peak NASCAR. What we saw at Atlanta is as good as it gets. And that's not an overstatement. So trying to get it to where, I don't know if you can replicate that exactly at Daytona or Talladega, the extra mile in length on the racetrack makes the track a little bit bigger and the runs and the way the cars interact with each other is going to be a little bit different." [7:30]

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. on how the Next Gen car has changed superspeedway racing

Further sharing his thoughts on this subject, Dale Earnhardt Jr. mentioned Denny Hamlin's comments on how NASCAR can improve superspeedway racing. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran had claimed that by taking away drag from the rear spoiler, the racing product on plate races can be improved.

This led Dale Earnhardt Jr. to raise 'a good question', one which asked whether reducing the drag would make the pack go faster. He claimed that him and Hamlin were talking on the side and discussed how things were before the Next Gen era.

"Before the Next Gen car, the pack operated during the race at the same speed, 200 mph, 199, somewhere around that range, not too far off, at least that's what Denny was sharing with me. That's kind of where they run now. But the cars run 10 mph slower by themselves today vs. pre- Next Gen and that's kind of the problem," Dale Earnhardt Jr. described. [8:40]

He claimed that the delta between how a car runs alone compared to how it runs in the draft, once that gap is closed, the racing could be a little bit more of how it was at Atlanta.

Having said that, Dale Earnhardt Jr. emphasized that he wants to 'move on' from Daytona and celebrate how 'fantastic' racing at Atlanta was.