Bristol Motor Speedway presents a unique challenge for NASCAR drivers. Experience and its utilization are paramount for any driver hoping to create moments of success at the iconic short track. Talking about the experience, one might be reminded of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who made his return to racing in the Xfinity Series at Bristol. Despite a promising display, he faltered in the race’s final stages due to an unexpected fire.

However, if you were to ask the man himself about how the buildup to his return unwinded, his answer might surprise you. Speaking about holding his nerves as everything seemed to go south for him, Junior spoke to co-host and close friend Mike Davis in another episode of Dale Jr Download.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. let his nerves get the better of him at Bristol

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been a gift from the heavens for NASCAR. Junior has cemented his name in history as one of the most beloved drivers to race in the sport and an equally important contributor off the track. Before his untimely retirement in 2017, everyone regarded him as a great driver. Having witnessed racing at Bristol since childhood and racing on the track quite often, he understood the task at hand when he geared up for a much-anticipated return.

“I was super damn nervous about it,” stated Dale. “I don’t believe I’ve ever been more nervous in my life as I was before qualifying. I mean literally, people were looking at me going you’re freaking nervous. Like it was written all over me. I couldn’t hide it. It was so bad I couldn’t hide it. You usually walk around and act like nothing’s a matter but for some reason I was just really nervous”, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.

Getting to take a feel of the track in his #88 Chevy, he tried his best to recollect all the experience he had gained from racing in the Cup for so long. But alas, things only kept getting harder for him.

“We get a 20-minute practice and I’m gonna go out there and run about 20 laps. Right away, the very first couple of corners, I was like, I have made a massive freaking mistake. This is harder than I ever thought. All I had was the sim. I couldn’t remember.”

” I know Bristol and I know how to get around the racetrack but I can’t remember physically driving around the track. I mean, it was six or seven years ago,” said Earnhardt, expressing his confusion.

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Hearing him speak about the uncomfortable situation he was in underlines the difficulty that Bristol can pose to a driver.  However, if the driver behind the steering wheel starts to feel shaky, there is not much one can do.

Dale Jr. feels he couldn’t tap into the car’s true potential

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The 2-time Xfinity winner has been part of races from time to time. Be it in late-model cars or Xfinity races, he has taken time off from his hectic schedule to grace the tracks every now and then. But taking a car into a competitive field of play at one of the toughest tracks on the schedule is a different matter.

“We went off in the corner for the first lap and I’m like holy cow this is no child’s play. We ain’t playing here.” continued Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“This ain’t a pickup game, and I ran lap after lap, and the car wasn’t comfortable, and I wasn’t comfortable. Everything is happening too fast. I’ve said this for years. Everytime you go to Bristol, even when I was a full-time racer, it takes about 30 or 40 laps for you to start processing how fast things are happening. You gotta catch up to how quickly things are coming at you.”

Short tracks have been problematic for drivers ever since their inception. For a track that has relatively lower banking than other short tracks, making a clean turn can prove to be incredibly challenging for a driver. Junior claimed that although he tried his best, he just couldn’t get his car under control with ease. This also made him think that he was failing at performing up to the level that the car was really capable of. Explaining the same, he said,

“I wasn’t going to get 40 laps. If we ran 20 I still finished practice going, I don’t have a damn clue. I’m not even close to being able to say I’m comfortable entering the corner. I might be overdriving it, I might be underdriving it. “

“I don’t think I’ve pushed the car to its limit on the corner exit yet. I felt like I was still way off and totally not real sure how much further I could go to push the limit before a problem, before losing traction.”

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Junior revealing his experience helps one understand the strenuous conditions that NASCAR drivers face every week. To bear the pressure of performing not just from others but from yourself as well can be overwhelming at times.