“I Didn’t Wanna Be There” – Dale Earnhardt Jr Reveals the Trauma That Almost Made Him Give Up on Racing One Day Following Tragedy

When Pink Floyd wrote, “And there’s someone in my head, but it’s not me,” figuratively these lines perhaps encompass the banality of the contemporary generation. While modern times are transforming with leaps and bounds, however, there are days when daily performance becomes a burden to every individual. Some may blame it on the rat race of life, while for others, it may be related to past events, trauma, or specifically mental health.

In the wake of Olympians and other athletes retracting their names from various formats of sports, the notion of mental health has taken center stage within the sports community. And the world of NASCAR does not lag far behind when advocating for mental health.

But sometimes mental state takes a huge toll, especially after suffering from a personal tragedy. Daily sustenance becomes a mammoth task, let alone professional commitments. And no one knows it better than Dale Earnhardt Jr who had witnessed the worst, that life can ever portray and when driving became a challenge for him. He reveals the trauma that he suffered on the Dan Patrick show.

Dale Earnhardt Jr reveals how he tackled his trauma after losing his father under tragic circumstances

The tragic demise of Dale Earnhardt on the tracks of Daytona will always be the darkest day in the history of NASCAR. Moreover, his son Dale Junior was present on the scene and was racing alongside him before outlasting his father. But soon tragedy struck that shockingly put an end to a rich legacy.

The event shook the world to its core and took a huge toll on a young Dale Jr. In lieu of events, the driver revealed to Dan Patrick, “Probably. I was just talking about this pressure on my mind a couple of days ago,” when asked if he ever wanted to not enter the car.

Junior added, “But Rockingham after my dad that was the next race we went to. I didn’t wanna race, I didn’t wanna be there but I knew I didn’t want to be anywhere else. It was kind of one of them situations where you didn’t want to be anywhere and you didn’t want to be doing nothing but you needed to do something and it was just a weird place to be emotionally and mentally.”

However, the former driver added, “But there are times when you might be sick or feeling bad or the car wasn’t fast in practice and you are worried about how having a frustrating day, but I never walked upto the race car and didn’t want to climb in it didn’t want to do what I was getting ready to do. I have always felt lucky and privileged. I was right where I was supposed to be.”

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From driver to father Dale Junior’s unmatched legacy

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It takes a great deal to get hold of one’s life after suffering through the worst possible tragedies that a person could ever witness, and Dale Jr did it. He has become an intangible part of the world of NASCAR. 

In an interview with ESPN for an episode of “The Intimidator” Junior expressed the emotions after losing his father, “When I realized that dad was gone, there’s a noise coming out of me that I can’t recreate. It was just like a bellow of shock and sorrow and fear. I went back in my bus and my room and shut the door to my bedroom and just sat there and I thought to myself in that very moment, I was like, I’m going to have to do this by myself. The rest of my life.

It is not just on the professional front that he has risen to prominence, but he is a doting parent to two beautiful girls. In an interview with the Athletic, Junior had asserted that he is a decent father, and is available to his daughters, while the girls are up to date with their father’s whereabouts.

With numerous victories to his name, his father would have surely been proud of Dale Jr. Nevertheless, the former driver will be seen on NBC as a broadcaster, giving inputs from the most awaited race of the year, directly from Chicago.

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