Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wants NASCAR To Go Head-To-Head With The NFL On TV: “NASCAR To Me Is The Best Thing Going”

To be the best, you've gotta beat the best. Of course when it comes to TV in the fall, the NFL is king. Networks pay (and charge) massive amounts of money for the rights to broadcast NFL games because they know the viewers that the sport brings in. The result, of course, is that other programming gets pushed around to accommodate the NFL. And that includes NASCAR. The second half of the NASCAR Cup Series season is broadcast on the NBC family of networks, including NBC Sports and USA. And the network has long sought to avoid putting NASCAR up directly against the NFL's 1:00 PM slate of games, instead opting to push race start times back closer to 3 PM or even 4 PM eastern, in a less ideal time slot for the sport and its fans. Why is the 3 PM timeslot less than ideal? Well this past weekend's race at Michigan is the perfect example, and the reason we're having this discussion again in the first place. Michigan International Speedway doesn't have lights, meaning races at the track have to be over before it gets dark (which was 8:20 PM this past weekend). If the race starts at 3 PM, that leaves NASCAR with only a 5 hour window to get the race in - meaning that any delay would force the race to either be postponed or shortened. An earlier start time would leave NASCAR with more time to get the race in, allowing fans at the track to see the race on its scheduled day and preventing fans at home from either being forced to watch the race at work the next day or miss it entirely. This past weekend, it started raining at Michigan right when the green flag was supposed to fly - forcing a delay before the cars eventually got onto the track for about 50 laps. But another storm eventually came through and pushed the remainder of the race to Monday. However, if NASCAR had started the race at 1 PM, they would have been able to get to at least the halfway point (which is the distance they need to reach in order for a race to be official), and likely would have even been able to get the entire race in throughout the day. It's a headache for fans, and ultimately results in smaller viewership when races are inevitably postponed due to late start times. But it's a risk that the network (which makes the decisions on race start times) is willing to take to avoid going up against the NFL. But Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn't think they should be afraid of taking on football head-to-head. On this week's episode of his podcast, The Dale Jr. Download, one of the most influential voices in the sport expressed his frustration with the start times, arguing that it's a short-term gain for the networks while running the risk of turning off (or not gaining) potential viewers. "Why not go up against the NFL? It ain't about us against them, it's just like, why are we avoiding the big guy? We can't ever gain those viewers if we don't go battle... I've always felt like, why are we running? Why are we running away from that? NASCAR to me is #1. NASCAR to me is the best thing going. NASCAR to me can start at 1 freaking o'clock if it wants to. NASCAR don't have to settle for 3 because that's a better time slot when we all know 1:00 is the best time slot. The NFL is sitting on 1:00 because it's great. NFL ain't startin' at 3 because it's better. They start at 1 because that's better." Ultimately, Dale feels like NASCAR is forced to "settle" for a less desirable time slot: "I think, if you're going to act like, and be the underdog, you'll always be the underdog, and people are going to see you as the underdog." Junior admits that he may not be the right person to make the decisions, and that viewership might decline with earlier start times, but he feels like it's better for the sport in the long term to compete against the NFL: "We're getting so many people pissed off that they're almost like, 'F it.'" I'm not sure that I fully agree with Junior, though I definitely see where he's coming from and I hate the later start times for NASCAR races. But like Junior admits, there's probably not a solution in sight - so ultimately, everybody's just going to have to be frustrated about it going forward. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6lEcIXhCv8