Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a lot of things. He\u2019s a husband, father, a NASCAR Hall of Famer, a team co-owner, a broadcaster and more. But Junior will be the first to admit that he\u2019ll never be a good teacher of young talent.<\/p>\n
With reports this week that NASCAR is reportedly considering partly lifting the limits on how many Xfinity and Truck Series<\/a><\/strong> races Cup drivers can enter (it\u2019s currently at a combined five starts for Cup drivers), Earnhardt agrees that young drivers coming up through the ranks would learn from their Cup heroes, but Junior isn\u2019t among those doing the teaching.<\/p>\n On this week\u2019s edition of the Dale Jr. Download podcast, Earnhardt talked about NASCAR potentially increasing the number of Xfinity<\/a><\/strong> (soon to be O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts) Series and Truck Series starts that a Cup driver can make, while at the same time maintaining a fair balance.<\/p>\n The last thing NASCAR wants to see is a return to the 2000s where guys like Kyle Busch<\/a><\/strong> competed in almost every second- and third-tier race in addition to their full-time Cup efforts. In fact, Busch was practically the one guy who singlehandedly convinced NASCAR to drastically cut the number of Xfinity or Truck races a Cup driver could compete in.<\/p>\n Busch has more Xfinity and Truck wins than in Cup<\/p>\n While Busch has 63 wins and two championships as a Cup driver, he has 102 wins and one championship in 367 Xfinity starts and 67 wins in 180 starts in a Truck.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019d be good if they could run more, but there has to be a balance,\u201d Earnhardt said. \u201cI could see them making an announcement like, \u2018Hey, man, we\u2019re going to change it to 10 (combined O\u2019Reilly or Truck starts).\u2019 <\/p>\n \u201cHopefully, they don\u2019t remove it altogether to where we have like Cup guys running for the (O\u2019Reilly or Truck) championship. That would be really hard on teams like ours.\u201d<\/p>\n While increasing the number of starts a Cup driver could make in the lower tiers would be popular among race fans, it would be difficult for NASCAR to mandate that Cup drivers act as teachers or mentors in lieu of being allowed to drop down in classes.<\/p>\n