NASCAR Star Says Sport Is 'Getting Worse,' Pleads With Dale Jr. To Come Back And Fix It

You may hate Denny Hamlin – and the weekly boos say that you do – but every single NASCAR fan should be saying amen to Denny this morning. 

Perhaps the biggest villain in the sport took a blowtorch to the state of short track racing earlier this week on his podcast, pleading with NASCAR to pivot – quickly – before it's too late. 

It all comes in the wake of another disastrous short track race, this time at Martinsville. William Byron won Sunday's race at the paperclip, leading Hendrick Motorsports to a 1-2-3 finish in overtime. 

And while the final two laps were somewhat exciting, the first 498 … stunk. No passing. Follow-the-leader. Tires didn't matter. 

Brutal, and Denny called NASCAR – and Goodyear – out for it. 

"We'll never f--king pass," he said after noting there was barely any tire fall-off during a 50-lap practice run earlier in the weekend. "It just keeps getting worse."

Can Dale Earnhardt Jr. save NASCAR short track racing?

See, everyone hates Denny lately. He's pretty much taken the villain role from Kyle Busch and run with it, which I love. 

NASCAR needs someone to call them out on their nonsense. Used to be Tony Stewart. Dale Earnahardt before that. Most recently, it's been the likes of Kevin Harvick and Hamlin. 

And by the way, Denny is 100% right – on all of it. 

Short tracking racing stinks right now, and it used to be the sport's biggest draw. That was our bread and butter. People love Daytona and Talladega, but you fall in love with racing at places like Martinsville and Bristol. 

But this new Next Gen car can't pass worth a lick because everyone runs the same speed, and Goodyear ain't helping with their terrible tire package. 

And yes, Hamlin works under the Dale Jr. podcast umbrella, so him suggesting Junior come in and fix everything may sound like a kiss-ass comment, but it's not. 

He's right about that, too. Dale's been frustrated at the short track package all season. I know that because he's basically told us so on Twitter after a few Budweisers on race day. 

Let him get in the car and run it at Richmond until the cows come home so we can figure out exactly what works, what doesn't work, and how the hell to fix it. 

I'm tired of watching follow-the-leader at Martinsville and Bristol and Richmond. Denny's tired of it. 

Most importantly, the fans are gonna get tired of it real soon if they haven't already. 

Save us, Junior!

You tired? Let me know at Zach.Dean@OutKick.com.