{"id":139720,"date":"2025-05-28T21:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T21:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/139720\/"},"modified":"2025-05-28T21:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T21:34:09","slug":"what-max-verstappen-did-that-left-nascar-legend-surprised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/139720\/","title":{"rendered":"What Max Verstappen did that left NASCAR legend \u2018surprised\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. admitted that he wasn\u2019t expecting to enjoy Formula 1 quite as much as he did during a visit to the Miami Grand Prix.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But it was Max Verstappen<\/a> who left him surprised by how much he enjoyed the race.<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen \u2018surprised\u2019 Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Miami<\/p>\n

The Miami Grand Prix was something of a decisive victory for McLaren driver Oscar Piastri \u2014 but that didn\u2019t mean fans weren\u2019t treated to a show.<\/p>\n

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen defied the odds by snagging pole position, and it was a lead he held \u2014 if tentatively \u2014 into the first corner.<\/p>\n

As he barreled into that turn, Verstappen locked up the tyres of his RB21, giving McLaren\u2019s Lando Norris a chance to take a look on his inside. The two drivers made contact, and Norris cut Turn 2, only to drop down to sixth on the grid.<\/p>\n

By Lap 11, Oscar Piastri had begun mounting his charge on Verstappen, forcing the reigning World Champion to defend hard against an attack that was finally completed on Lap 14.<\/p>\n

Verstappen continued to lose positions, dropping down to fourth at the finish.<\/p>\n

More on F1 vs NASCAR:<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\u00a0F1 v NASCAR: Top speeds, engines, formats, calendars and safety measures all compared<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\u00a0New NASCAR rule change opens door for F1 drivers to compete in the Cup Series<\/a><\/p>\n

Having been invited to Miami by Hard Rock and Red Bull Racing, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. was able to experience that race firsthand.<\/p>\n

The son of the great Dale Earnhardt, Junior admitted that his expectations of the event weren\u2019t extremely high \u2014 but that he found himself surprised by what he saw.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a NASCAR fanboy. NASCAR to me will always be the greatest thing in the whole wide world. It always will be. Of course it is; I grew up around it,\u201d Earnhardt explained on his Dale Jr. Download podcast<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m more entertained by the NASCAR product \u2014 but I was a bit surprised by how entertained I was by the F1 product, especially when Max [Verstappen] was trying to defend.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Earnhardt Jr. noted that the defense didn\u2019t last long against\u00a0 the quicker McLarens, it was nevertheless exciting to see the pinnacle of open-wheel racing in person.<\/p>\n

As part of his overall weekend experience, Earnhardt Jr. was invited to meet Verstappen \u2014 but that it left him with \u201cone regret.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe I wasted my opportunity of conversation on something frivolous,\u201d he said on his podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething he is amazing at. I did want to tell him how much I appreciate him and what he does for sim racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to tell Max like, \u2018Dude, I appreciate everything you do for the sim world, you legitimize it,\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTwenty years ago, when I tried to tell my team that sims were cool, they laughed \u2014 and now they\u2019re all spending millions of dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read next: Could a NASCAR Hall of Famer really win an F1 race?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. admitted that he wasn\u2019t expecting to enjoy Formula 1 quite as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4199,707,4200,225,1073,13189,12,226,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-139720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-f1","9":"tag-formula-1","10":"tag-formula1","11":"tag-home-page","12":"tag-max-verstappen","13":"tag-nascar","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-red-bull","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114587609616237714","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}