Dale Earnhardt Jr. maintained his stance that Austin Dillon did not intentionally wreck Brad Keselowski in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway. The topic of discussion came up during a recent episode of “Dale Jr. Download.”
Earnhardt Jr.’s co-host, TJ Majors, is Brad Keselowski’s spotter. After the incident, Majors sounded over the radio that Dillon wrecked his driver on purpose because he was “mad” about a spin earlier in the race, which happened after contact with Keselowski.
In his post-crash interview, Keselowski also believes Dillon intentionally wrecked him after watching a replay of the incident. However, as Earnhardt Jr. stood by on the Prime broadcast, he does not believe Dillon’s actions were intentional.
Earnhardt Jr. on Dillon: ‘I don’t think he drove into you on purpose’
During Earnhardt Jr.’s podcast, Majors gave his perspective of the crash. After contact from Keselowski sent DIllon spinning earlier in the race, the spotter believes the driver of the No. 3 made a retaliation move.
“Just watching it, to me, he’s just tracking him. Out of the corner, he’s like, ‘Oh, I’m going where he goes.’ He’s looking for him,” Majors said.
Earnhardt Jr. argued that the contact was from everyone checking up in front of Dillon as Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 4, got loose and stacked up the field.
Although Earnhardt Jr.’s stance remained that it was not intentional, the NASCAR Hall of Famer believes Dillon did not mind that Keselowski got wrecked due to the previous incident.
“My opinion is that, did he try to wreck you on purpose? I don’t think he did. Did he give a (expletive) that you wrecked? No, but I don’t think, considering everything that they’ve had to go through the last couple of weeks, that they want to be out there wrecking people,” Earnhardt Jr. said.
When asked what Majors would have done differently if he were piloting the No. 3 car, he said he would have lifted to avoid running into Keselowski’s No. 6 machine.
“I would’ve lifted. To me, he’s just tracking Brad right there the entire time,” Majors said.
Earnhardt Jr. doubled down on the point that Dillon checked up for Gragson, as many other cars did in front of him.
“I think everybody was checking up. I don’t think he drove into you on purpose. … He sees the 4 (Gragson) slide up the track, he’s getting down the track just like you are,” Earnhardt Jr. said.
Earnhardt Jr. said Dillon told him he was ‘spot on’ with his stance
Sunday night was not the first time Dillon and Keselowski have had an on-track run-in.
At Michigan in 2021, Keselowski made contact with Dillon, sending the latter crashing head-on into the outside retaining wall. The two had another on-track incident when the two beat fenders under a caution period at New Hampshire in 2022.
Earnhardt Jr. said he forgot about the history between the two, but remained firm that the Nashville incident was not intentional. However, the former driver of the No. 88 believes Dillon did not have any regrets after what transpired.
“I didn’t think about all the history from Michigan and all that stuff, so I’m sure he’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m so regretful.’ He’s probably like, ‘Yeah, (expletive) that guy,’” Earnhardt Jr. said.
Earnhardt Jr. went on to say he had a conversation with Dillon, who said his take was “spot on” and that it was unintentional.
“I did talk to Austin. Austin told me that I was dead on. … Me and him talking in a personal conversation, he would’ve told me he did it on purpose. He’d say, ‘(Expletive) yeah, (expletive) that guy. We’re (expletive) buddies.”
After 14 races in 2026, Keselowski sits 13th in the Cup Series points standings, while Dillon ranks 24th.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Doubles Down on Austin Dillon Nashville Incident