Dale Earnhardt Jr. may have spent the better part of his life involved in the NASCAR world, but his appreciation of motorsports isn’t limited to the ovals where the series races. He is a genuine racing fan, and the recent meteoric rise of F1 has intrigued him.
Last weekend, the 50-year-old checked off a bucket list item when he was finally able to visit an F1 race, despite the sport visiting the U.S. for several years. And having previously been an integral part of the NASCAR world, Earnhardt did not shy away from conceding to F1’s global superiority.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Deems F1 The Biggest Spectacle in Motorsports
Last year, Earnhardt opened up about watching F1 races as a child, long before the sport gained traction in America. Seeing Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen race was incredibly entertaining for Earnhardt, who became plugged into watching the sport.
Having experienced the NASCAR world as a fan, a spectator, a driver, a presenter, and a team owner, there is hardly any aspect of the sport that Earnhardt isn’t familiar with. Thus, when he visited his first-ever F1 race last weekend, it was easy for him to draw comparisons and declare a clear winner between the two sports.
Speaking on the latest episode of the “Dale Jr. Download” podcast, the JR Motorsports co-owner revealed that he visited the Miami GP on Sunday, which wasn’t well-received by his co-host, TJ Majors.
Moving on, Earnhardt conceded that F1 is the top sport in the world, given its global reach, as opposed to NASCAR, which is only prevalent in the U.S.
“F1, to me, is at the top of the motorsports world. And so it’s global; it’s beyond global. There’s f**** aliens out there, watching F1,” he said.
Earnhardt’s comments come shortly after the official numbers from the weekend telecast surfaced online. Given that the two premier Motorsports leagues collided on American soil last weekend, most fans decided to tune in to the NASCAR race on cable.
However, the data does not represent F1’s exact viewership, given its global presence on different channels and its availability via the F1TV Pro subscription.
Moreover, fans who tuned in to the F1 race claimed that the overall package provided by the series was much better than the one presented by NASCAR. There were no ad breaks to ruin the viewers’ experience, and the shorter race times also made for exciting viewing for fans, while some even claimed NASCAR to be a “clown show.”