“Are We Learning Anything?”: Dale Earnhardt Jr Highlights One Aspect of NASCAR Drivers Might Believe Is a “Waste of Time”

Dale Earnhardt Jr recently spoke about one aspect of drivers’ routines that some might find problematic. To be precise, he was talking about testing on the simulator. The former Hendrick Motorsports driver confessed that initially, drivers are excited to hop onto a simulator. For those who indulge in sim racing, they deceive themselves into thinking that going on the team simulator is the same thing.

In the latest episode of The Dale Jr. Download podcast, Junior mentioned, “I’ve done the sim, and there were moments when there’s this weird thing that happens. When you’re in the sim, you go there, you’re excited to do it out of the gate because if you like sim racing at all, like I did, it’s just a big sim. You’re going to sim race, but you’re going to run laps by yourself. You’re not gonna be racing other people online like you do at home. But it’s still really cool technology, so you’re kind of excited to climb into this thing and drive.”

However, the fun and games stop soon and the real work kicks off. This is when the team really puts the driver through the wringer and makes them go around the same track all day long. Soon it comes to the point where, in Dale Earnhardt Jr‘s words, the driver starts wondering, “Are we learning anything? Are we absolutely learning anything here? Is all of this a waste of time?”

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Dale Earnhardt Jr compared it to real-life testing and shared his own experience

According to Dale Jr, when drivers begin to entertain such thoughts, it gets very tricky. In his words, that is the point when there is a risk of “checking out” and giving up. He admitted that such situations do happen during real-life track practice sessions. The NASCAR Hall of Famer even shared some of his own experiences in real-life testing.

Dale Jr confessed that there were occasions when they were frustrated due to a number of reasons, like the car not going faster, a recurring problem not getting addressed, unflattering timing sheets, or the rivals showing improvements. The frustration at such times stops the drivers and crew from being productive. He added, “Whether you think you did or not, you’ve checked out, you’re wasting your time. If that can happen on a real track, and a real test or in a real practice, absolutely (it can happen) in a sim, closed off in a building, you can certainly think, ‘Man! Are we silly for doing this?'”

How did Junior find Tyler Reddick’s take on sim racing?

The former NASCAR driver did admit that he had felt that way sometimes in his racing career. That is why he was glad to hear Reddick’s response that sim racing has become a bigger tool, and that it is important that they treat it professionally and squeeze every ounce of information they can.

Continuing with the example of Tyler Reddick, Junior said, “If he’s willing to go through 10 ideas and find even one that works. He says it’s worth the time. I was happy to hear that because it validates my point that sim racing, iRacing, driving a sim, all of those things are a nice tool to the real world drivers. 10–15 years ago, I was laughed at, when I would tell people that iRacing could make them a better race car driver.”

One thing is for sure, many drivers are thankful that simulator work is a key component of the sport. It gives them a chance to marry their hobbies to their profession.

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