“Be careful”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. warns NASCAR community against “negative publicity” of Goodyear

Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared a word of caution about the rhetoric surrounding Goodyear tires. He noted how the tire manufacturer's softer compounds have improved racing, but warned that once 'bad publicity' starts coming in, Goodyear will be forced to change course.

The Cup Series championship race turned sour when William Byron's late-race tire failure derailed Denny Hamlin's title hopes. Moreover, all the final four contenders experienced a flat tire during the race. The recurring incidents were due to teams running lower air pressures than the recommended limit.

Softer tires have become a necessity to offset the Next Gen car's inability to follow under dirty air. It was the case at Bristol Motor Speedway, where drivers could barely pass in the spring race, but found it a lot easier in the playoff event, when Goodyear's soft tires began cording as early as 30 laps.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. previously noted that 'it's not in Goodyear's best interest' to bring such fast-wearing tires. He echoed the sentiment on the latest episode of Dale Jr. Download.

"If we aren't careful with our words around Goodyear's involvement," he said, "So like fans, what Goodyear's done to to soften the tire and make the racing better at Martinsville and all the other short tracks is a massive gain. And they had a pretty solid tire for this weekend. If we get on social media or if our drivers get out of their cars or if I come on this show and we sh*t on Goodyear, they're gonna say we don't need bad publicity no matter what, even if we know the direction we're going with the tire is correct." [53:30 onwards] "So, we will make sure that when we go to the next race, we avoid negative publicity, which means we're going to do bricks and we're going to have drivers not being able to pass. We're going to have a bad product on the racetrack. So, be careful," he added.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. also shared that making changes to the car is a rather long process, but the tire itself, could be changed from 'race to race'.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. raring to bounce back with JR Motorsports

During a post-race interview at Phoenix Raceway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. opened up on JRM's plan of action after losing the Xfinity Series title. Notably, it was the second time in four years where JRM had multiple teammates in the final four and could not clinch the championship.

Most notably, Connor Zilisch's ten-win season going to waste was a serious blow for the company. However, Earnhardt remained confident of launching a comeback.

"Just ready to get back to the racetrack and redeem ourselves. Anytime you don't get the result you need, you can't wait to go back and try again, he said via X/SiriusX NASCAR Radio"

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently revealed that he shared an interaction with NASCAR president Steve O'Donnell about potential format changes. According to the NASCAR chief, any changes implemented in the Cup Series will carry over to the Xfinity and Truck Series.

It's widely expected that NASCAR will move away from the single-rcae title decider and instead opt for a multi-race final round.

Get the latest NASCAR All-Star race news, Xfinity Series updates, breaking news, rumors, and today’s top stories with the latest news on NASCAR.

Edited by Vignesh Kanna