NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. has revealed the thing he believes most people get wrong about him.
Dale Jr. has become more of an open book over the years, helped in no small part by his Dale Jr. Download podcast, but recently opened up on a preconception that a legend of the sport had about him.
Speaking to the Athletic's Jeff Gluck for the final edition of his 12 Questions feature for 2025, he revealed what four-time Cup Series champion and Hendrick Motorsports vice-chairman Jeff Gordon had to say to him when he moved to Hendrick.
The modern era's winningest driver admitted to Earnhardt that he didn't know what a 'smartass' Dale Jr. was before he joined the team – something the Amazon Prime and TNT color commentator attributes to his mother.
Dale Jr: NASCAR needs rockstars
He revealed: "When I went to race at Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff Gordon was like, 'Man, I didn’t know you were as funny or as big of a smartass as you were'. That’s something I got from my mom. And this is a compliment – my mom was an unbelievable smartass, and I loved it about her.
"She was going to pick on you, she was going to jab, but it was all in fun, and it was hilarious, and nobody was safe. If you slipped up around her, you might get called out. And she was just so damn funny."
The 51-year-old also gave his take on how to restore NASCAR to the public consciousness, saying: "We need some rock stars. It’s all about having some driver come in here and captivate the hell out of us and make people who aren’t watching go, 'Who the hell is that?'
"That’s what it’s going to take. We’ve got very cool people racing; there’s a lot of people in there who I like, cool guys who are fun to hang out with, but I don’t know how we get them to become mainstream stars."
