NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. has little to regret about how his career unfolded. Even so, there are things he wishes he had done differently.
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Dale Jr. detailed how he did not take full advantage of the exemplary teammate environment he was part of in a 2019 interview with Joseph Wolkin from Frontstretch. This admission came when he was asked what the one thing he would change if he could go back in time.
“I didn’t really learn how to be a great teammate, a true professional, an asset to my team, and a student of the game,” said Junior, talking about the time in his career when he was sponsored by Budweiser, from 1999 to 2007.
“I didn’t really learn that throughout the Budweiser years. I had great cars, great teammates, great people, great crews, and great mechanics. I just didn’t take advantage of it,” he added.
The reason Dale Jr. failed to do that was that he was a young driver, drunk on popularity. He had a big sponsor, and fans loved him no matter what. He admitted to this, adding, “I’ll always wonder if I would’ve been more focused, whether that would’ve mattered. Would that have provided more success? But it’s over and done. There’s nothing I can change.”
Junior drove the No. 8 Budweiser car from his Cup Series debut to 2007. He had several notable drivers like Michael Waltrip, Steve Park, and Mark Martin as his teammates during this period.
Had Junior wanted to, he could have learned a lot from them and potentially secured more accolades. But, as he pointed out, there’s little point in wallowing over what’s done and dusted.
Why Dale Jr. is proud despite zero championships
Junior never managed to win a Cup Series championship, a big void on his resume. However, he takes solace in the fact that he has contributed more to the sport than many championship-winning drivers. When Wolkin pointed out that perhaps only Jeff Gordon has done more off the track, Junior was on cloud nine.
“If I can’t be a champion, I hope I was an asset; however, I can be. That’s the best compliment you can give me about my career: that I was an asset,” Junior replied.
“I would love to be a champion. At least at the Cup level, I’ll never get to say I was a champion. I wanted to matter, and I wanted to influence the sport in a great way,” he added.
Championship winner or not, Junior’s influence on NASCAR has been monumental and continues to be so even today, years after his retirement.
