When Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced his retirement back in 2017, it felt like a huge loss to the NASCAR community. After all, the sport was losing one of its most popular drivers. But, when Dale Jr. announced his return to the tracks, albeit in a broadcast role in 2018, spirits were instantly lifted. But what was he getting himself into?
Well, if you ask Jeff Gordon, there were mixed reactions. He said, “If I reflect and go back to Daytona, I was scared to death in Daytona, and I wish we were going there next weekend, really, because I love that race, the whole atmosphere of that event. But to kick off our season with that event and be fresh and new in this whole experience was pretty overwhelming.”
However, if Junior would take anything from it, it would be the positives, as Gordon explained. “It’s been a really great experience. I’ve enjoyed it. I haven’t really missed being in the car that much because of the challenge and the fun challenge that it’s been being in the booth, getting to know a whole new team of people to work with, trying to understand what all goes into a broadcast.”
Speaking recently on Dirty Mo Media, Dale Jr. peeled back the curtain on just how tough that transition was. Laughing with Rick Allen, he admits, “Eventually, I ended up getting to work with you guys. I would say that it was f***ing fun. It was so much fun. The first couple of weeks, y’all handled me with kids’ gloves. It was like, ‘You get away with this. You get away with that. It felt like ‘game on. We’ve taken the rookie stripe off. You’re in! I was standing there and I was like, ‘I ain’t said four words.’ I hadn’t said ten words, maybe, in that whole stage. And I was so mad and frustrated. Burton, standing next to me, elbows me and says, ‘He ain’t stepping out of the way. You gotta get in here.’ He was like, ‘You gotta force your way in here. We are not gonna stop and wait for you.
If you wait for space to speak in the booth, you’re going to be waiting for a while. @DaleJr | @RickAllenracing pic.twitter.com/dtn1IRXjnC
— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) April 25, 2025
Joining NBC in 2018 was no small feat. Having driven for decades, Junior knew he had what was needed to be in the race booth, but it never gets easier does it? He’d already served as a race analyst back in 2016, but when he joined Jeff Burton on NASCAR America back in March 2018, he knew it was the real deal. Just a few months later, Junior would be commentating the 2018 Overton’s 400 at the Chicago Speedway with NBC.
Dale Jr. and Jeff Burton‘s camaraderie is worth the mention here. Burton, who is also a fellow driver-turned-commentator, became the guide for Dale here. “I remember sitting next to him and thinking, ‘Man, I’m not doing this right,’” Dale Jr. recalled in another one of the Dirty Mo Media episodes. “But Burton would always just look over and say, ‘You’ve got this. Don’t worry about it.’”
For a few years, it was a relationship that worked for both parties, until, in a shock move, there were reports that the deal was to end in 2023. And behold, the racing legend turned broadcasting giant Dale Jr. joined hands with Amazon and TNT for the coming years. What was the reason you ask? Hear it from Junior himself. “I remember watching the races on TNT back in the day, and it’s so nostalgic to see them return to the sport and to be a part of their team.”
But that doesn’t mean it has been easy for the driver. It’s all about learning what makes commentating better and that’s what Junior revealed a few months ago. “I think one of the biggest mistakes that I see in broadcasting—I guess not the biggest, but a common mistake in broadcasting, and I’m guilty of it too—is not listening to your booth mates. If you listen to a race, I bet you every race, no matter who it is, even when I’m doing it, you repeat things that your booth mate already just said. And so, I mean, it’s—that’s just been happening since the early days… But you got to listen… I can’t stop listening to what my booth mates are saying, because there can never be a moment where you’re like, ‘I don’t know what the f— they’re talking about.”
One thing’s for sure. Junior’s always looking to learn, and it shows given the new skills he’s picking up.
Dale Jr. talks about a potential return to the race track
Outside of his career as a commentator, Dale Jr. has made it big in podcasts, and recently, he invited Cleetus McFarland as one of the guests. If fans remember, McFarland is a name that became popular in the NASCAR community after the driver piloted helicopters alongside Greg Biffle to help people in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. A little while later, the two headed to the track to drive a new car. It’s not a NASCAR vehicle, but a decked-out drag car!
After driving it, Junior felt a mixture of being impressed and scared. He explained, “It was so insane to launch that truck. I did two runs because the first run, as soon as I let off the button, my whole body went back in the seat and my foot literally came up off the floorboard. It was like a jump scare… like when you’re walking through the haunted woods and somebody comes out with a chainsaw.
Despite this, there was a drive to do more, and fans could perhaps see Earnhardt follow in the footsteps of Tony Stewart. “It feels like it can get out of hand… it just feels like it’s gonna fly out of control. I’d like to do this a couple more times, man. Then kind of ramp it up a little bit.”
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