Dale Earnhardt Jr. responds to criticism from Ben Kennedy interview
Last week, Dale Earnhardt Jr. interviewed NASCAR Senior Vice President of Race Development and Strategy Ben Kennedy at The Dale Jr. Download.
Kennedy is responsible for mapping out schedules and leading new events such as the Busch Light Clash at the LA Coliseum and the Chicago street race next year.
He is also the grandson of Bill France Jr. and great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. So Kennedy will likely be the leader of NASCAR someday.
In the roughly 90-minute interview, Earnhardt and co-host Mike Davis covered various topics but focused on the scheduling process.
The conclusion of some listeners to the interview was that Dale Jr. was making a NASCAR executive easy,
as there is a lot of turmoil currently going on within the sport.
Namely, the lack of safety in the next generation car and the battle between the teams and NASCAR over the division of TV revenue.
Earnhardt and Davis spent a good chunk of the early part of the show explaining their process
and why it wasn't fair to accuse them of going easy on an executive,
with the main reason being that these issues people have with NASCAR aren't in the Kennedy. .
"I took a little offense," Earnhardt said. “So here's the thing. Before Ben walked into the room,
I really wasn't 100% sure about his stature, position, responsibilities, role in the business and the company.
But the more we studied him, as we do with everyone who comes to the show, and the more he talked and argued from room to table,
the more I understood that Ben Kennedy is really just a young guy who is going through the system."
Earnhardt gave an example of when he was younger and worked at his father's dealership.
He worked in almost every department of the service department and the collision center
because Dale Sr. wanted his son to gain experience and a perspective on what everyone does if Dale Jr. take over the entire dealership one day.
Just because he was the boss's son didn't mean he had a say in decisions about that dealership.
And in Dale Jr.'s mind, that's where Kennedy is now.
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