“I Got to Get Up and Earn Respect”: Does Dale Earnhardt Jr. Feel Burdened Still Being the Face of NASCAR?

Throughout his racing career and even after, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been admired by everyone across the board in NASCAR, many considering him to be the face of the sport even at this point in time. Junior’s opinions and suggestions have often been converted into reality by the top executives and others within the community.

But holding such an important position in the sport’s landscape might at times be an overwhelming and daunting affair even for the boldest of people. Discussing this very subject former NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace asked Junior about his thoughts on dealing with all of those things or if he considers it to be a burden.

Junior responded, “I don’t feel it… I don’t feel that way, I feel like that everyday I got to get up and earn respect. Everyday I got to get up and earn my place in the sport.”

“I have a pretty great relationship with NASCAR… You’d be surprised at how much I get myself into trouble on my own podcast. Maybe running my mouth a little bit too much.”

Sunday on Youtube we’ll have an hour and forty minute “@Kenny_Wallace Conversation” with @DaleJr!

Here’s a preview… pic.twitter.com/iGbA79qdxy

— The Kenny Wallace Show (@KWallaceShow) November 10, 2023

Dale Earnhardt Jr. elaborates on getting in trouble with NASCAR

Speaking further into the conversation, the Hall of Famer stated, “This is exactly how it goes every single time. Something happens in NASCAR, I get mad about it. I go on my podcast or over to a buddy or whatever right and go, ‘That’s BS. Why did they do that? Shouldn’t have done that. Why that? I don’t why they did it that way that I’ve never done it this way’.”

Junior added that after his initial outburst, he would go talk to some of the NASCAR executives such as Mike Helton and Steve O’Donnell and they would explain to him why they did certain things the way that they did them.

After hearing their explanation, Junior ends up understanding their point of view and agrees with them. Therefore, every time he gets himself into trouble he feels like he has to “always got to be earning back my space, my place, my role, my job, whatever it is in this whole thing.”

Junior’s thought process is understandable considering how there are always two sides to a story. It is only when one knows about why something happened the way it happened, is when a complete conclusion can be drawn. This is probably why Junior has to keep going back and forth to ‘earn the respect back’ from other parties in the sport.