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The Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway saw Dale Earnhardt Jr., the former driver and Xfinity Series team owner, take to the race track once again.
The 2-time champion in NASCAR's second-tier nationwide series was seen performing well on the 0.5-mile-long short track under the lights as he relived his days of youth as a full-time racer.
Despite an electrical issue relegating the #88 Chevrolet Camaro driver out of his car and the race, the 48-year-old's outing on the track was a successful one up until then.
Running towards the sharp end of the field in the top-5 as well as leading the race, Earnhardt Jr. looked like he never stepped away from stock car racing.
However, the Kannapolis, North Carolina, native revealed on his popular podcast, The Dale Jr. Download, his mental state going into the race as well as the sessions that preceded it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. elaborated on his mental state and the amount of anxiety he had before he had to go out on the track and perform.
Earnhardt Jr. spoke on why he was anxious before the race as well as what made him feel better once he was out on track.
Falling back on the words of the late basketball legend Kobe Bryant, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said:
"(I was afraid of) looking like a clown. That's it. Looking like a damn loser. I saw this article about athletes. There are two types, there's the types that fear failure or are driven by success. Kobe (Bryant) said 'I'm not either one of those. I'm not driven by the fear of failure and I'm not driven by the championship. He said in every moment I'm just there to learn. And I thought, that's exactly where I was going wrong."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the moment his anxiety vanished during the Bristol weekend
Headed into qualifying after what he felt was not enough practice to make the race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. further elaborated on how he switched his anxiety from behind the wheel to an impressive performance on Friday.
He said on the Dale Jr. Download:
"When that qualifying lap was over, especially after I realized it was a good enough lap to get into the race, the rest of the day was fantastic. What sucked was the first half of the day."
Listen to the complete episode of the former driver's podcast for various other anecdotes from the past weekend, as well as NASCAR in general.
