“It’s not that interesting to me”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. explains reason behind his picky behaviour with races outside NASCAR

Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared insights into his picky behavior about racing at this age. The former NASCAR driver, who is set to race in the 16th annual Hampton Heat, revealed that he did not find racing interesting anymore, but loved watching other people race.

Earnhardt Jr. will race in the 200-lap Late Model Stock Car race at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia on Saturday. Interestingly, this will be the debut for a driver who enjoys older surfaces and the surface of Langley Speedway is just perfect for him.

Speaking to Flo Racing, the 49-year-old said that why he did not like racing at his age, he liked to see others face.

"I don't enjoy [it] at my age and what I got going on with my life, to get in a car and have to run as hard as you can, run Q laps [qualifying], every lap of the race where there's not really whole lot of fall off, it's just not that interesting to me. [However] I love watching it. I love watching other people do it." (2:36-2:54)

Dale Earnhardt Jr. also said that he loved to return to the Langley Speedway .

"The track is, you know, my mom lived here a long time, 25 years, so I came here a lot as a kid, or a couple times at least," he said. "Watched a lot of races here on TV and on streaming over the last several years, this was one of the first tracks that got a streaming option, and so I always wanted to race here."

According to Flo Racing, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s debut race is already a hit. The race at Langley Speedway will see the track's largest car count as a total of 38 teams will take part in the race.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. reveals his racing plan for a year

Dale Earnhardt Jr.,at the Food City 300 in 2023 (Source: Getty)

Dale Earnhardt Jr. retired from NASCAR back in 2017, after racing for almost two decades. However, he remained connected to racing [Xfinity] despite his retirement. The 49-year-old told Flo Racing that he would race only a handful of races over a year.

"For now, I'm going to run three to six races a year," he said. "That's kind of what my family and my career, my professional life allows, and I wanted to come here once. Maybe we'll enjoy it and have a great night and we'll be back next year."

In his long career in the Cup Series, Dale Earnhardt Jr. took part in 631 races and claimed 26 wins and 15 pole positions. Amid this, 10 of his 26 victories have come at Talladega, and Daytona, which fetched him the nickname "The Pied Piper."

Earnhardt Jr.'s team JR Motorsports has fared well so far at the 2024 Xfinity Series, with Justin Allgaier currently second in the drivers' standings, 56 points behind table-topper Cole Custer. Sammy Smith is 11th while Sam Mayer is 12th. Brandon Jones is the lowest-ranked JR Motorsports driver so far in the Cup Series standings in 14th place.