NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been majorly involved in the business world since retiring from full-time racing in 2017.
The 47 year-old veteran drives once or twice a year in the Xfinity Series to satisfy his racing itch with JR Motorsports, a team that he also owns. Competition in the business world, however, is his primary focus right now, along with spending quality time with his family.
Earnhardt Jr. believes every driver in NASCAR is trying to get involved in business and have a product that succeeds. In a recent interview with Front Office Sports, he said:
“I always used George Foreman’s grill as an example of what all of us athletes are looking for. We want success on the playing field or on the race track, but we’re also all looking for that Foreman deal. I felt that was a pretty good analogy because George had a lot of success with that, and I think every driver out there is trying to find their place in the business world and find something that succeeds.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. also drew similarities between the racing and business worlds. He felt both came with their fair share of challenges and excitement. The joy of winning and the frustration of losing is the same in both fields. A great example of current drivers who are also entreprenuers is Denny Hamlin. Hamlin races for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup Series, and is also the co-owner of 23XI Racing, which competes against him on track.
Meanwhile, the two-time Daytona 500 winner aims to widen his business portfolio as he launches his own brand of vodka with his wife.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. says Next Gen car brings more opportunity for cheating
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has kicked off the 2022 season of his podcast, Dale Jr. Download, with his take on how the teams will interpret the new cars. The 47-year-old believes NASCAR teams will go out of their way to find ways to make their cars faster than the competition.
The introduction of vendor-supplied parts that are exactly the same for each team is going to create new areas where the teams can get 'creative'. Claiming this will be very difficult for officials to control, Earnhardt Jr. said:
“With all of the components, there’s all new places and areas for them to get creative in. And when I say get creative, I mean cheat. I think that it’s going to be a very, very difficult task for NASCAR to control all the creativity that these teams are going to try to develop.”
On the latest episode of his podcast, Earnhardt Jr. speaks to two-time Indy 500 winner Al Uncer Jr. Fans can tune in to Dale Jr. Download on whichever app they use for their podcasts, or watch the video versions on Dirty Mo Media's website and YouTube page.