“I Am Not Entertained by This Sport Unless…”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. on What Draws Him More to NASCAR Now Than Before

As a supporter or a fan of any sport, everyone goes through an arc. At first, certain kind of things appeal to us about our favorite sport. Then, those things change and different things take over as our focal point of interest. Later in life, those things change again, and again, and again. Such is life. It’s constant change. This has also been the case for Dale Earnhardt Jr. when it comes to NASCAR.

Or more specifically, Earnhardt Jr. as a fan of the sport. Because on his podcast show, the Dale Jr. Download, the NASCAR Hall of Famer opened up on his shift from being a fan of the racing and the races to now being more invested in the storylines that emerge out of the races.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is more interested in the storylines in NASCAR now

After the race at Texas Motor Speedway, which took a lot of beating from fans and some insiders, Earnhardt Jr. opened up on how his perspective has shifted from being a young fan who loved NASCAR to how he is now. “For me, I’ll say this, as a fan, I am not entertained by this sport unless I really invest in the storylines,” he said.

“I used to struggle with that. I used to not really deal with storylines or not care about them. I just want to see an awesome race. I just want to see a race, get up and go, ‘Heck yeah. I wanna go next week. I can’t wait to come back next year.’ It was very singular. But now it’s like there are all these stories that are compelling to me that I used to not really get into, used to not care much about.”

To back his point, Earnhardt mentioned the storyline of Fords not being good enough this year compared to the Toyotas or the Chevys. But RFK Racing emerged as the top Ford team, winning, and performing well. Junior also touched upon the storyline of Martin Truex Jr.’s season of see-saw where he goes from dominating 3 or 4 races to struggling in the playoffs.

Another storyline Junior mentioned was of Denny Hamlin emerging as the top Joe Gibbs Racing driver right from the get-go in the playoffs.

Junior still has more racing left in him

After his impressive run at Bristol recently, Dale Earnhardt Jr. must’ve got the urge to add more to his yearly one-off appearances in NASCAR, which perhaps he might just because who knows? But when it comes to Late Model Stock cars, Junior is open to racing for many years into the future.

“I could see myself running that car long into my 50s if I wanted to because I wouldn’t care as much about how competitive I am,” Earnhardt said.

Having said that, it’s not like Earnhardt will never stop racing. He clarified that while he may race “one here and one there”, he won’t be racing until he is 60 years old.