Dale Earnhardt Jr. believes one track adjustment could make for better NASCAR racing at Richmond Raceway. The comments come following last Saturday’s Cook Out 400 at the 0.75-mile Virginia short track.
Earnhardt Jr. proposed that Richmond Raceway add sealer to the track’s surface, a chemical compound designed to change tire traction or seal the racetrack’s surface. With that adjustment, Earnhardt Jr. believes Richmond races would be “amazing.”
Earnhardt Jr. proposes Richmond add sealer: ‘Used to put on good races’
During a recent episode of “The Dale Jr. Download,” Earnhardt Jr. suggested the idea of putting sealer on the Richmond Raceway track surface. The retired NASCAR star said that back in the day, the track put on stellar races.
That was because of one key reason.
“Richmond used to put on really good races back when they used to put sealer on the track. They haven’t done it in a really long time and when you look at the battles, you see all these clips on social media leading up to the race, people posting their favorite moments — that’s back when they used to have sealer on the racetrack,” Earnhardt Jr. said.
About 10 years ago, Earnhardt Jr. talked to the racetrack about adding sealer. The 51-year-old recalls those at Richmond Raceway fearing that adding it would speed up the aging of the racetrack.
On top of that, Earnhardt Jr. acknowledged that drivers would not like it at first.
“When you first put it down and you send cars out on the racetrack, it’s God awful. If you do seal Richmond or any racetrack, drivers are going to scream about how awful it is. It’s super gooey and grippy and it becomes really tacky and the cars start to adhere to it. They start to get a hold of the racetrack,” Earnhardt Jr. said.
At first, Earnhardt Jr. said the sealer is slick like a “hard shell.” However, once cars bust through it, it becomes “slimy, grippy stuff.”
When that happens, Earnhardt Jr. said the track becomes incredible.
“After you put one race on that sealer, it’s amazing from that moment on,” Earnhardt Jr. said.
Richmond Raceway returning to The Chase in 2027
Over the last four years, Richmond Raceway has settled into its August weekend date, a race not in the 10-race Chase.
Next year, however, the short track returns to The Chase on the September 11 weekend. Formerly, Richmond Raceway was the last race before The Chase before being moved into The Chase in 2018 until 2021.
Joey Logano earned the win in last Saturday’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond. It was Logano’s second win of the 2026 season and third career victory at Richmond.
Chase Briscoe was second, followed by Austin Cindric in third, Denny Hamlin in fourth, and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five. Earlier that day, Kaden Honeycutt won the Craftsman Truck Series race at the track.
Richmond Raceway formerly had two NASCAR weekends, one in the spring and one in the fall. The track lost its spring date after 2025 after the Cup Series went to Mexico City to race for the first time.
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