“What a great treat for us”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. happy to capitalize on personal venture during NASCAR’s Olympics break

Former Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., expressed his delight on his podcast, "The Dale Jr. Download," on the success of the CARS Tour during the Olympic break. He highlighted how grassroots racing was gaining attention from various media outlets and hoped for it to achieve the same level of exposure as NASCAR.

In January 2023, Dale Earnhardt Jr., along with Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick, and Justin Marks, took a step by forming an ownership group to purchase the CARS Tour. The asphalt late-model series features Pro Late Models and Late Model Stock Cars and runs primarily in North and South Carolina, as well as Virginia.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been a staunch supporter of late-model and short-track racing and played an important role in the revival of North Wilkesboro Speedway, a track NASCAR left behind in 1996. He also has a personal connection to the series, having started his own racing career at many of the same short tracks featured in the CARS Tour.

Now that NASCAR has taken a break for the Paris Olympics, the CARS Tour has stepped into the spotlight, according to Dale Earnhardt Jr. He shared his morale on his podcast, saying:

"We had a fantastic pro race. Our Pro Late- that race and that race finish got reached reading by Rubbin' is racing. I mean... what a great treat for us. NASCAR taking a break for the Olympics."

"It's our opportunity to be talked about, to be celebrated, and to be showcased by a lot of these publications and social media handles that traditionally are covering NASCAR. Well, it's got no NASCAR to cover, so if we can do great things, we can land in those areas, which we did over the past weekend at Hickory," he continued.

Earnhardt Jr. also discussed the viewer turnout and the number of cars in the race, emphasizing that a healthy car count with committed drivers was essential for the series to be taken seriously. Reflecting on the on-track skirmish- like the one between Landon Huffman and Andrew Grady during the Hickory Late Model race- Dale Earnhardt Jr. noted:

"I think some of the confrontation on track and in the pits is certainly the deterrent to other competitors and also."

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Kevin Harvick proud of his involvement in promoting grassroots racing alongside Dale Earnhardt Jr.

After a year and a half of owning the series- CARS Tour alongside Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick expressed his sentiments in a recent interview with Frontstretch. When asked about his experience co-owning the series, he stated:

"I'm really proud to be a part of it. I think when you look at short track racing right now, late model stock series and the cars tour is really the place to be, and we owe that a lot to our competitors, and them showing up week after week and putting on the races like we like we've seen this year, is just been incredible."

Following a successful event at Hickory Motor Speedway, the CARS Tour is ready for a doubleheader weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway on August 3. The event, originally slated for May, was rescheduled due to inclement weather.