“I Wanna Matter”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Comes Clean on His Current Role in NASCAR Landscape

It has been quite a few years since Dale Earnhardt Jr. stopped racing full-time in NASCAR. But over those last few years, the Hall of Famer and motorsports media mogul has built himself to a position where his opinions and suggestions hold great value to the overall betterment of the sport.

This was something Junior recently elaborated on while speaking to Kenny Wallace as he explained his exact role in and around the realm of NASCAR as a sport.

During the conversation, Junior said, “I truly believe man that like my role in life outside of being a dad and a husband and all those things and running Junior Motorsports… Outside of just the things that you see my role is to make NASCAR better every day.”

“Now, do I live that way? No, not every day. I get it wrong every once in a while, but that’s truly what I want to do. Like where my heart is right? But sometimes I get it, I get it wrong.”

Junior added, “But trying to wake up every day and wanting to be an asset to something. I don’t ever think you wake up feeling like I’m the center of this universe. Or you don’t wake up understanding your importance.”

“You just wake up every day going, Man, I wanna matter. I got to do something today to make a difference… It’s hard to make that difference sometimes and sometimes you get it wrong and sometimes you hopefully get it right,” Junior concluded.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s suggestions have led to great things in NASCAR

Junior is someone who can still easily be attributed as the face of NASCAR. His opinions and ideas matter to the higher-ups running the sport. A little while back, Junior was one of the forerunners in pushing the notion of bringing back an old iconic short track back into the NASCAR schedule.

Of course, we are talking about the North Wilkesboro Speedway and its revival. Sure, it was not just Junior but a collaborative effort of several people and organizations. But the entire idea of bringing back this fabled place came into existence after Junior urged iRacing to laser scan the dilapidated race track so people could experience the place in the virtual realm forever.

Soon after that became a reality, Junior remained as a driving force involved several others, and got the track back to racing condition. Not so long after the 2023 Cup Series All-Star race took place there with Kyle Larson emerging as the winner. The North Wilkesboro revival effort was just one of many examples of Junior’s opinions and suggestions being taken into consideration for the general improvement of NASCAR as a sport.