Dale Earnhardt Jr. reveals the NASCAR session “he hated” during his racing days

Two times Xfinity Series champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. has revealed the session in NASCAR race week that he hates the most.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. reveals the NASCAR session “he hated” during his racing days

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Via Newsweek)

Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. is one of the most successful racers in the sports history, with his two Xfinity Series championships and 26 Cup wins leaving a longstanding legacy. One of the most important factors behind the success was his hard work off the track. Recently the veteran revealed the one session as part of the race week he hated the most, despite it helping him to be better.

On his appearance in the Bussin’ With the Boys podcast, Dale Earnhardt Jr. admitted that he used to hate the practice session before the race, which was over one hour in his racing days compared to 20 minutes now. He believes the practice session is similar to the test runs and its very monotonous as well as boring to the drivers involved.

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I hated practice. Because practice was a lot of times like testing. Testing and practice are very similar. In testing… You’re out there running alone, run five or 10 laps and then make a change. It’s very monotonous and boring. You almost get bored of telling (his pit crew) the feedback… You’re just bored to death.

Dale Earnhart Jr. told the Bussin’ With the Boys podcast.

Junior dislike towards the practice session comes from the fact that he was unable to attain the same level of fun he got from the actual races and there was no competition to be concerned about during these sessions. He had no option but to partake in it though, as in the long run it helped him to understand the cars and tracks better.

When you practice on the race weekends, it’s the same thing, there’s no checkered flag, no winners or losers, it was maybe an hour. I just hated to do it. I wanted to race, the race was fun, but the practice was kind of boring.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. added.

What made Dale Earnhardt Jr. to appreciate practice more?

Dale Jr. understood the importance of the session in 2017, the final year of his career. That’s when he realised, he should have appreciated it more as he will never have the opportunity again to work on the car and strategy closely with his team, making him regret his attitude towards practise over the years.  

Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Via IMAGO)

I was in my car and I it just dawned on me that there’d be a day where I’d never practice again. I was just sitting in my car and in my garage stall, and would say, yeah, I’m going to miss this part. I hated this part, but I should have appreciated it more.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.

The one thing about the session he really cherished is the puzzle solving factor. He was deeply involved in the final decisions on any changes the team made it to the car and his suggestions held major significance.

The comments from Dale Jr. shows it took him a little too much time to understand how significant factor the practice session was of his career. But having these long and “boring” sessions helped him to be a great driver and it’s a luxury the current generation of Cup racers are heavily missing.