Dale Earnhardt Jr. had some interesting things to say about the reported scheduled changes for NASCAR in 2025. On the Dale Jr. Download podcast, Earnhardt reacted to Atlanta, Homestead and Watkins Glen being out of the playoffs while Darlington, Loudon and Gateway being in the playoffs next year.
“I’m disappointed about Homestead leaving the playoffs,” Earnhardt said. “We ran Homestead years ago early in the season and it was weird. After having the season finale there for so so long, it just doesn’t feel right to put it anythere else in the season. Kind of was fun to have it in the playoffs again.”
Earnhardt then said there are rumors that Homestead could return to being the final race of the year. “If it ends up being the finale, I’m okay with them sticking it in March or somewhere for a year,” Earnhardt explained. “Maybe that’s sort of the tradeoff. They want to give some of these other tracks a little bit of an experience of what it’s like being in the playoffs, and Homestead you’re going to be the finale. So we’re going to stick you over here in March, not a favorable date for you, probably not your favorite time of the year to be racing in the NASCAR series. But you’re going to get back to the finale, go sit over here for a bit while we entertain these other tracks in the playoffs.”
Why Dale Earnhardt Jr. loves the Homestead track
According to Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic, Homestead, which is located in the South Florida area, is a favorite track among drivers and fans. The track hosted the championship finale from 2002 to 2019 and has been in the playoffs for 18 of the past 20 years.
Earnhardt’s last Cup Series race was at Homestead in 2017. Before the race, Earnhart talked about how much he enjouy driving on the track.
“I just like the track so much. Obviously, we (he and wife Amy) enjoy the Keys,” Earnhardt said at the time, per ESPN. “The Keys had a difficult past several months with (Hurricane) Irma. We have a lot of friends down there that were affected by that. On the drive from Key West all the way up here, oh man, they are still really, really struggling. A lot of people still displaced. A lot of people lost their homes. It is still a very difficult and challenging situation for a lot of people in the middle Keys.”
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