Dale Earnhardt Jr Proves Once Again Why He’s the Most Relatable NASCAR Driver Ever With His “Ex-Girlfriend” Analogy

There’s a reason Dale Earnhardt Jr won NASCAR’s most popular driver of the year award 15 times in a row, he simply resonates with fans on a very basic and ground level. Even though he is one of the most famous drivers in the sport, the NASCAR Hall Of Famer still manages to make himself relatable to the average person.

This was once again on display as he described his ‘relationship’ with racing now that he has retired.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about it, racing or driving a racecar,” Earnhardt Jr. said on GreenLight Podcast. “It’s kind of funny. It’s like, remember when you were young and you had this girlfriend and everything was great and then you found a few things and maybe you didn’t appreciate or didn’t like and maybe she found something about you she didn’t or whatever.”

“But you split up right. And you’re so relieved. You’re like, ‘Man that really wasn’t working for me.’ And then, time goes by and you’re like, ‘Man, I kinda miss that girl or miss that relationship. There were some cool things about it.'”

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He continued, “Because you only remember the good parts. And then you make the mistake of getting back together, and within days you’re like, ‘Oh damn! I remember that part, I forgot about that, I forgot about this and those things that were annoying.’ And then you break up again.”

“I think for me, racing is kind of like that, an ex-girlfriend.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr would still be racing if not for one recurring problem

In an interview from 2021, Dale Jr. admitted how had it not been for his concussion problems and family, he’d still be racing regularly. Over the course of his career, the former Hendrick driver suffered over 20 concussions, which ultimately forced him to early retirement.

“If that never happened, I would probably race well into my late 40s,” Earnhardt said. “I think if I hadn’t got married and had kids, and with that incident in 2016, I might still be racing today.”

Earnhardt Jr described how, when he only had himself to live for, he’d have backed himself in that situation. “Without my wife and kids, I probably would have went back to it and I would have probably got sick again and got her again,” he said.

“Who knows where that would have sent me?”