Earnhardt, Jr. slams NASCAR again, this time for a "cop out"


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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ja-yo7boMU

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. may be bowing out of fulltime racing, but he certainly isn't quietly fading away.

One of NASCAR's top names is taking the organization to task for allowing excessive post-race celebrations that, Earnhardt says, may have ulterior motives.

"It just seems like the Gen-6 car, once everybody started figuring out how to trick the underbody and things like that, everybody blows the tires out," Earnhardt said and as reported by Motorsports.com.

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Prompting Earnhardt's ire is the penalty and fine against Hendrick Motorsports, and suspension of his teammate Chase Elliott's crew chief and car chief for what NASCAR officials are saying was "a modification of components to affect the aerodynamic properties of the vehicle" discovered in the Chicagoland post-race inspection.

RELATED: Chase Elliott's 2nd Place Finish Encumbered, HMS Hit With Penalties

"It is just hard for me to see the logic in suspending a crew chief, car chief for some tape flapping on the spoiler when the winner drives into Victory Lane with the rear of the car tore all to hell. I don't see how that doesn't come across anybody's consciousness or common sense."

Martin Truex, Jr., one of Earnhardt's close friends, won the Tales of the Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway last weekend. His celebration included an extended burnout and blowing out the tires, which Earnhardt feels essentially compromises the post-race inspection. "If you're watching the video of these crewman trying to fix that tape on that spoiler of the No. 24 car, imagine what the hell's going on with the car that gets to jack it up and put tires on it before it can go across the LIS."

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Clearly, Earnhardt suggests the main issue is not with teams themselves, but rather NASCAR's failure to do its job.

"I have been kind of waiting all this time for NASCAR to eventually say, 'Look, you know we would just rather you guys not blow the tires out. They talk about not wanting to be the 'fun police.' Being the 'fun police' is not on the radar of their damn problems. You know, I don't think they need to worry about... that is a cop-out in my opinion."