BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Perhaps when the stock market tanked back in the day, ol' E.F. Hutton lost his ability to hold the attention of his targeted audience.

“

The races to me were very poor. We almost depended on the late cautions to save the day, to make somebody race side-by-side for a couple of laps -- at least within 10 laps of the finish of the race and somehow that saved the day.

”

-- DALE EARNHARDT JR.

But in NASCAR, it doesn't matter that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has sunk to 25th in the Cup Series points standings. When Earnhardt speaks, folks still listen.

And Earnhardt was quite candid Friday at Michigan International Speedway when asked what he thinks of the current state of Cup racing. He still isn't happy with the new car and firmly believes that NASCAR's team of engineers can do lots to make it better.

"What I'm getting at is I think we need to open our eyes a little bit, everyone," Earnhardt said. "I think media could address it a little stronger. I think that the drivers could be a little more vocal about it. I think NASCAR could probably be a little more urgent in improving our product -- with the ultimate result [being] great, exciting racing that the fans will enjoy, that the drivers enjoy, and so everyone is happy.

"That should be our quest always, even when things are good. I feel like especially right now, we need to really, really try to turn over every stone. That includes where we are with this [new car] and where we feel like its development is. And where we feel like its future goes and where we feel like this car goes, how it evolves. I just have a sense of urgency over the last couple of weeks, I guess, to see if we can't do better."

Reached Saturday in the garage area at MIS, Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition, said that he had not yet read or heard Earnhardt's comments. But he defended the state of the current car, and the racing it has produced.

"We've had discussions with the teams and things like that, and we feel like the racing is as good as it's ever been -- better than it's been," Pemberton said. "Everything points toward the fact that the competition is as level as it can be. But I did not see Junior's comments, so I can't really comment on them."

Told of some of the specifics of Earnhardt's comments, Pemberton said he did not want to comment any further on them until he had a chance to see them for himself. He certainly will have plenty of material to peruse.

Earnhardt said his decision to speak out now stems from NASCAR's recent decision to go to double-file restarts after caution periods. He spoke of "the spark that really put into racing" and made him think that it can be improved even more.

“

In the town hall meeting, there were opinions that the drivers expressed, that the owners expressed. Some were short-term fixes; some were more of a long-term project. I think there needs to be some more short-term things looked at.

”

-- KURT BUSCH

"I enjoy it. I think all the drivers enjoy it. I think the fans love it. We need more of that," Earnhardt said.

But he lamented the fact that he believes it is difficult to sustain the excitement level generated by the new double-file restart rule.

"We need to think about things that are tangible, such as the cars themselves, and think of more ideas we can do within the races to add more of that," Earnhardt said. "The double-file restarts gave us an opportunity to be exciting for only a moment -- and we need to figure out how we can maintain that throughout an entire race."

Prior to implementation of the double-file restart rule, Earnhardt said he thought the racing this season was not very good.

"Before that, I thought it was rather poor. I did," he said. "The races to me were very poor. We almost depended on the late cautions to save the day, to make somebody race side-by-side for a couple of laps -- at least within 10 laps of the finish of the race and somehow that saved the day.

"Then there was no argument the next week; it would go away. It was very frustrating because 95 percent of the race wasn't worth the price of the ticket."

The reaction of other drivers toward Earnhardt's comments was mixed. Current points leader Tony Stewart more or less suggested that if changes are made, they shouldn't come at the expense of teams such as his own who appear to have figured out the new car better than most.

"I wish I was smart enough to know what to do. I think that's something that the engineers would know better than me," Stewart said. "I'm not smart enough, honestly, to know what could be done.

"I feel like Watkins Glen was fun last weekend [where Stewart won his third points race of the season]. I feel like you couldn't race around cars. I think every week it's getting better and better, and the competition is getting tighter and tighter. More teams are figuring it out and it makes it hard if you're not 100 percent on the money. But that's just the evolution of racing. It's that way in all forms of it."

Kurt Busch said that a "town hall meeting" held between teams and NASCAR officials was beneficial earlier this year. But he added that he agrees with Earnhardt that there is more that can be done to improve the quality of racing.

"In the town hall meeting, there were opinions that the drivers expressed, that the owners expressed. Some were short-term fixes; some were more of a long-term project," Busch said. "I think there needs to be some more short-term things looked at.

"One great idea came from Greg Biffle, who said, 'Let's put more left-side weight in these cars.' Anything that has left-side weight on an oval track is going to turn better. We used to run Late Models with 58 percent left-side [weight]; these cars have only 52 [percent].

"We can't keep making these cars heavier. Goodyear struggles to find the right combination with the heavier car and the higher center of gravity. So weight is an issue. I think that can be addressed short term."

Pemberton said it's not quite as simple as Busch makes it sound.

"I'm not going to get into the details of that, but there are reasons the weight distribution is what it is," Pemberton said. "There is more detail to that than just making a blanket statement. Listen, we understand [some of the drivers' concerns]. We've talked and worked with the teams on it.

"We continue to meet with the teams on all fronts, whether it's cars or sponsorships or engine packages. We continue to meet with them as needed."

Perhaps that soon will include a meeting with Earnhardt, who admitted he was testing and unable to attend the town hall meeting held earlier in Concord, N.C.

"I was just asked a question and gave an answer," Earnhardt said. "I'm not trying to start a crusade against nobody or cause anybody problems. All the drivers, myself included, we all need to work together with NASCAR to do this. I am just trying to remind everyone of the optimal goal and prize for us is to have better racing.

"Even when things are good, we shouldn't rest on any success we may be having. We are not really where we want to be, I don't think, as a sport. We need to do things to excite corporate America. Excite the fans. We need to get proactive immediately to make that happen."