The late great Dale Earnhardt will always be considered a legend in the NASCAR arena. So, when his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr, stepped onto the scene, there was always going to be pressure on him. In the 2021 I AM NASCAR interview, Dale Jr spoke about the pressure on him to try and emulate his legendary father.

He was asked, “With you coming behind your father. Being the Michael Jordan, whatever name you want to put out there in the sport. We call them haters. Anyone hate on you, saying, ‘Oh that’s just Dale’s boy. They didn’t believe in you?'”

The former Hendrick Motorsports driver was referring to how critics often hated him. As per their criticisms, he would just be referred to as ‘Dale Earnhardt’s boy’.

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How did Dale Earnhardt Jr respond to all of this?

He said, “Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, all the way to the very end. I don’t know if any of you guys had a father that excelled at something. He won seven championships and he won 70-something races. When I started, I wanted to pay my power bill, and phone bills. I wanted to do this for a living. I didn’t set these like, ‘I want to be a champion, I want to win 50′”.

In essence, Dale Jr confessed that one of his biggest motivations was not to emulate his father. Instead, he viewed it as a way to try and just live a fairly comfortable life. In the early stages of his career, trying to win championships was one of the last things on his mind.

Dale Earnhardt Jr continued, “I just wanted to make it, and I kept on thinking about, if I ran a race, I would go, ‘Did I make it? Did that race prove that I belong here?’. When will I feel comfortable, like I’m going to be able to hold onto this position I have in the sport for as long as I want? So that I can make a living, here. That was really all that I wanted to do.”

Since his NASCAR debut, Dale Jr has gone on to win two Xfinity Series titles and 26 Cup Series wins. Aside from that, he is also the proud co-owner of JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series. So far, the team has nabbed three titles in the series, in 2014, 2017 and in 2018. Those came at the hands of Chase Elliott, William Byron and Tyler Reddick, respectively.

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