Dale Earnhardt Jr. settles down into the XM studio on his property with his close group of friends, the “DM posse,” gathering around to talk about everything from what movies they like to their favorite Chevy vehicle to whatever guys talk about when they are with their buddies having a beer and hanging out.
XM producer Rich York keeps things flowing and handles the ins and outs of the radio side of it, while the boys just do their thing. The laughter flows and good-natured ribbing is in full force. In the center of it all is the most popular driver in NASCAR – but up close he’s morphed from a very shy, outwardly almost insecure young man into a man who knows how to navigate the business world as he would the draft at Talladega.
I’ve been reporting on Dale Earnhardt Jr. since he was a young teenager and I’ve seen him mature a great deal – but it strikes me that I’ve never seen him “act a fool.” That, despite the fact that there are so many opportunities for him to do so and everyone’s watching.
I keep a journalist’s perspective on athletes that I cover. I’m not a fan of a specific driver and I’m not amazed by their presence because I’m around them all the time. Dale Jr. is deeper, more worldly and has greater focus than some might think.
After his most recent win, I sat down with Junior and talked to him about his feelings. “I hate selfish. I don’t want to be selfish and I want to be appreciative,” he told me. “I have been blessed, I’ve caught a lot of breaks and I had a lot of good things happen to me and I’m thankful for it. The older you get, the more you realize how many times you almost lost it or made a mistake or went down the wrong path ... you realize how many chances you had to not have that opportunity. So to still have it and how things are going for me I couldn’t be happier.”
I asked Dale Jr. how he’d like to be remembered by those who follow him. “When it’s all said and done,” he told me, “I would hope that at the end of the line that they can say they enjoyed being a fan of mine, that they had a lot of opportunities to get excited and cheer and they went to a lot of races and maybe I won a few of them that they actually visited. But I think the No. 1 thing when it comes down to it is just honesty. When they put you in the ground – were you an honest man, were you an honest person? And I think I’m shooting for above-average. I don’t know if I’m 100 percent perfect, I don’t know if anybody is, but I think I’m shooting for above-average in that respect.”
