NASCAR Fans Furious With NBC's Idiotic Dale Earnhardt Jr. Decision

We've reached the Dog Days of Summer portion of the NASCAR schedule, which means it's time to track down that TV Guide and find some combination of NBC and TNT. 

That's right – FOX has officially handed the broadcast keys over to the folks at NBC, who will take it from here for the rest of 2024. That means no more Mike Joy (sad), Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick. 

Instead, get ready to welcome Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. BACK into your living rooms for the next four months!

Wait. That's not right. Hang on … let me try again:

Instead, get ready to welcome Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and … that's it … BACK into your living rooms for the next four months!

For the first time since 2017, NASCAR fans are bracing for a summer without Dale Jr. – a reality that smacked them straight in the face yesterday when NBC sent out their annual press release detailing this year's coverage:

No Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a dumb loss for NASCAR fans 

Whoooooooooof. Just tough. 

Look, I'm sure everyone will come on here and call me a FOX homer, which is fair. I get it. They do sign my paychecks, after all. 

But I promise you I'm not. I think – like everyone else – that the FOX NASCAR production needs some work. Lord knows we saw some examples of that this spring. 

But the FOX booth? Come on. It's just so much better than NBC, and it ain't close. In fact, the only thing that made it close was Dale Earnhardt Jr. That's it. He joined NBC back in 2018, and it's been a masterclass ever since. 

Of course, his TV contract expired after last season, and for some ungodly reason, NBC let him walk. Just like that. I truly can't think of a dumber decision, unless TNT lets Charles Barkley walk here in a few months. That will rival it. 

But until then? I'm convinced that letting Dale Earnhardt Jr. walk out those doors – and straight into Amazon's arms (beginning next summer) – is just the dumbest thing maybe in the history of NASCAR. And that's a looooooooooooooong list. 

Anyway, sane fans aren't thrilled with the prospect of having no Dale Jr. this summer, and they really ain't thrilled with his replacement … which is nobody. NBC is just leaving Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte in the booth along with Rick Allen – who is set to leave after the Olympics – and hoping it works. 

PS: Jeff Burton the driver? Solid dude. Remember the old Cingular Wireless car? Electric. But Jeff Burton the commentator? 

Whoooooof.