Earnhardt critical of Talladega ruling

Although Smith crossed the line first, he was demoted to 18th in the results because he had crossed the yellow line when making his last lap pass for the lead, with Stewart being handed the victory.

Earnhardt Jr disagrees with NASCAR's decision as he believes Smith did nothing wrong as he tried to win the race in the last few yards, and that he simply reacted in the most sensible way to Stewart's blocking tactics, despite officials ruling that the rookie was not forced to drive on the apron.

"In my opinion the 01 (Smith) was forced bellow the yellow line, the two didn't make contact, he was in the inside of Tony and he had no other choice but to move away from Tony and that's sensing bellow the yellow line. In my opinion the 01 wins the race," he said.

Earnhardt called for NASCAR to clarify what constitutes a blocking manoeuvre and what doesn't, as there are differing views regarding the legality of Smith's move given how Stewart moved in front of the DEI machine.

"I feel like Tony did what he had to do," said Earnhardt. "In the car everyone would've done what Tony did, everyone would've done what the 01 did. Neither of them were wrong or right. What's curious is, when are you forced? Show me some video. I want to know what's being forced and what's not. I feel like that was being forced.

"He (Smith) can't sit there and hold his line. He's going to wreck Tony and probably wreck himself. That's ridiculous to expect someone to be that baldheaded about a situation like that and put everybody in jeopardy just to not be accused of passing bellow the yellow line."

The Hendrick driver remembered how he performed a similar manoeuvre at the same track in 2003 and was deemed legal. He said only putting a wall over the yellow line would prevent the rule being a grey area, while he sympathised with Smith, acknowledging the difficult times that the team his father founded is currently going through.

"This is Regan Smith; if it's a guy that has won seven championships then maybe it's a different discussion but this guy ain't got a job next year as far as he knows," said Earnhardt. "And he crossed the finish line thinking he might have won a race and he ends up going home 18th.

"You can tell him all day long that everybody in the garage knows who won that race and trying to make him feel better but it don't help. It's just tough."