In a career that spanned decades, Dale Earnhardt Jr proved his racing mettle and followed his legendary father to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. After 26 Cup wins and two Xfinity championships, he made it impossible to question his expertise in the field. The race at Bristol Motor Speedway served as a reminder of his incomparable skills in the Xfinity Series.

If not for the unfortunate issue with his #88 Chevrolet, the 48-year-old Dale Jr would have created history by marking a win at this age. The ease with which the veteran racer led laps this weekend, no one could have assumed he was at all discomfited on the wheel after his retirement. And yet, that was precisely his state of mind prior to qualifying for the Food City 300 race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr was in over his head despite years of experience

Dale Earnhardt Jr registered a speed of 120.596 mph in his qualifying lap. Taking 15.9 seconds, the JR Motorsports driver qualified 15th for the playoff race. Despite getting out when smoke billowed out of his race car, the part-time racer led 47 laps and nearly clinched a win. However, the veteran race was anxiety-ridden during his qualifying lap and was unsure of getting through.

In his podcast, the Dale Jr Download, the prolific racer opened up about his state of mind prior to competing with current racers in Next Gen Cars. His lackluster practice session created a seed of doubt in his mind about his abilities, and he was far from confident at the end. The car and its grip felt unfamiliar to him, and a wave of nervousness washed over him.

He admitted, “Right before I go out and qualify, I ran some practice laps. I was totally over my head and in over my head. No way else to describe it…It’s happening too fast and I’m not comfortable. I don’t feel the car, I don’t feel the grip. Going in the corner and not doing everything feels like you know when you drive a good lap, you go down the corner and it hooks up and you hammer the gas. And you’re driving the car on top of the racetrack and sliding around and you’re like I’m getting it all out there. I’m getting everything I can get right here. In practice I was not able to get to that, I needed a lot more time to be able to work up to that. And practice was over and I wasn’t even halfway there.”

The experience reminded Dale Earnhardt Jr of his disappointing qualifying performance at the Martinsville Speedway.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr dripped with memories of Martinsville as he prepared for Bristol

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Dale Earnhardt Jr’s troubling practice session bore a familiar resemblance to his previous NASCAR race. Although Junior had not competed in Bristol since 2017, he participated in Martinsville in April last season. He finished at a respectable 11-place but the qualifying had his nerves knotted akin to a rookie driver.  Earnhardt Jr qualified 30th and nearly missed racing in the main event.

The practice laps for the playoff race at Bristol brought back that apprehension. Despite his age and status of retirement, Jr did not wish to suffer the embarrassment of not qualifying. That trepidation was visible despite several years of relentless success.

He continued, “Practice laps were like trying to read a foreign language; nothing made sense. And now I’m going to go out there and try to run as fast as I can possibly go, right to the limit of the car. And hope that I get a good enough lap that’ll get me into the field. I was two spots away from missing the race at Martinsville on time when I qualified for that race…Just a couple tenths or hundredths of a thousandths and I would have been out of that race. That would have been embarrassing as hell. That’s what you’re worried about.”

His performance in the main race made it evident that he had nothing to worry about. The champion still has racing years left in him. And his fans cannot wait to see him on the tracks in the future.

Read More: “I Don’t Think You Give a Damn” – Dale Earnhardt Jr. Defensive as Closest Ally Publicly Exposes Him