“That right there was absolutely incredible.” Christopher Bell’s soaring enthusiasm at the end of a dramatic race last weekend showed what a thriller it was. The 2025 NASCAR All-Star Race went down with dramatic twists at every corner, from Brad Keselowski losing his race lead to technical mishaps to Christopher Bell toppling Joey Logano’s dominance with the help of the promoter’s caution. Yet some people did not like this show, to the utter disbelief of Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The Cup Series veteran won the 2000 Winston All-Star Race equally dramatically. Dale Earnhardt Jr passed Dale Jarrett with two laps to go to secure the prestigious exhibition race honor. Given his own experience, the veteran is prepared to fight detractors who see no meaning in this non-points event.
Dale Earnhardt Jr calls for greater emphasis
The exhibition event has been a thing since 1985, piling up great moments of history in between. Those included Humpy Wheeler’s dazzling idea to keep the event under lights, and Davey Allison incurring severe injuries after beating Richard Petty at the 1992 race. NASCAR legends ranging from 7-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson to 28-time Cup race winner and bold statesman Carl Edwards have all won the All-Star Race. Considering the rich nostalgia of the race, it must have shocked Dale Earnhardt Jr to find a poor reception of the 2025 iteration. FS1 earned 1.965 million viewers for Sunday’s event at North Wilkesboro Speedway, down from 2.573 million last year. Even 2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick questioned whether the All-Star Race has run its course.
However, Dale Earnhardt Jr took a rock-solid stance against all the doubters. In a recent Dale Jr Download episode, the veteran mocked the people who offered poor ratings to the race. He said, “There are some folks out there that think that the All-Star Race is not necessary. To make the All-Star Race just disappear seems like a bit of a mistake. Well, I got a trophy on the shelf, and you’re going to make that meaningless by making that race obsolete.” He emphasized that the rich history of the All-Star Race feeds the core fans’ nostalgia. “If you do away with the All-Star Race, all of those amazing finishes, the ’87 race, the one hot night, throw it in the f-cking bin back here in the back of the archives. When are you ever going to celebrate those highlights?”
Having fun, celebrating history & continuing a legacy – that’s what the All-Star Race is all about. @DaleJr | @Tjmajors pic.twitter.com/2ygPmpDfZ9
— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) May 20, 2025
What is more, the FS1 ratings kind of stand out in the overall reception of the race. The diehard NASCAR fans who tuned into the 2025 All-Star Race overturned a miserable streak. After nearly two months of poor ratings, Jeff Gluck finally recorded 83.8% of voters who thought the race was good. North Wilkesboro’s classic short-track racing produced the optimum conflicts that fans enjoy. So Dale Earnhardt Jr continued that NASCAR needs to stress the event’s rich heritage for fans: “If you didn’t want the race to continue, when are you ever going to celebrate its history? You’ve got a race that could be fun and something that people get excited about. We just experienced that this past weekend.”
Clearly, there has been a division of opinions regarding the 2025 All-Star Race. Yet the positivity factor is tilting on the heavier side. That is because the track enthralled some NASCAR garage veterans.
Living up to its name quickly
North Wilkesboro Speedway is a hallowed racetrack in stock car racing circles. However, it faced a long gap since 1997. When Dale Earnhardt Jr and others visited the 0.625-mile facility in 2019, they found rusty grandstands and weeds growing through the cracks. However, the veteran driver decided to breathe new life into the short track. That is how North Wilkesboro reopened in 2023 and went through a repave before the 2024 All-Star Race. Many times, we have seen drivers complain about newly repaved surfaces because that leads to drab racing, wherein racers cannot pass each other. However, the North Wilkesboro surface is wearing off quickly, leading to good racing. There were multiple three- and even four-wide battles for position throughout the four Cup Series races last weekend.
We also saw how Ross Chastain rebounded from a crash with Austin Cindric to secure a third-place finish. Phil Surgen, crew chief of Chastain’s No. 1 Trackhouse Racing team, highlighted the track and Goodyear’s tires for his driver’s success. “I’d say this tire is fairly matched up with the track. The year of age on the track, I think, is probably a bigger factor than what the tire was this year. And I’d say, another couple years and this place is going to be really racy, although it looked pretty good tonight. You’ve got a couple of lanes, three-wide at times, so it’s getting there with a little more aging.”
Evidently, the case for the All-Star Race success is going strong. Dale Earnhardt Jr’s assertive claims may snuff out most of the detractors and breathe new life into the event’s purpose.
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