Dale Earnhardt Jr threatens to leave NASCAR over disgusting electric car rumor

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Well, NASCAR has committed the cardinal sin: They've pissed off Dale Earnhardt Jr. You simply can't do that. There are a lot of folks you can anger in the world of racing, and get away with.

Dale Jr. ain't one of them. You need him on your good side. Even a decade after his retirement, he's the leading voice in the sport. That's not hyperbolic, either. He's got the biggest racing podcast on the planet. He's extremely active on social media. Fans still, overwhelmingly, turn to Junior for all things racing.

ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON'T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!

That, by the way, is a major indictment on the current Cup drivers, but that's a story for another time.

NASCAR team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. watches during practice for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. (Peter Casey/Imagn Images)

Anyway, all the fuss right now in the racing world is centered around a rumor involving NASCAR fans' worst nightmare ... electric cars. That's right. E-cars!

Just the thought of it makes folks feel queasy. Fans can take a lot, but even getting a whiff of an electric car in NASCAR sends them running for the hills.

John Probst, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer, floated that possibility this week, telling Sports Business Journal that NASCAR could one day implement a crossover utility vehicle EV into the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.

Nope. Don't love that. At all. Sure, it's all shop-talk right now, but that's how these things start. Before you know it, the fellas are out there racing in cars we can't hear and don't recognize, and pit crews are replaced with charging stations.

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