“Just a Miserable Individual” – Dale Earnhardt Jr Reveals ‘Frustrating’ Racing Factor He Misses Since Retiring

A full-time gig driving in the NASCAR Cup Series pays well. A Cup Series season, comprising 36 races, is a hectic affair with no rest for the wicked. Couple this with a decades-long career, it can be draining, and the veterans of the sport agree. Retired 6 years apart, when Dale Earnhardt Jr presented an irony, it was relatable for the recently retired Kevin Harvick.

Modern-day practice sessions are nothing like what they used to be back in the days of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Previously, the drivers used to run laps along the racetrack, come back in the garage, and make an educated decision about what to change and what not to change. Naturally, such a system led them to make mistakes with setup and often get into the wall, trying to get the best out of the car.

Due to the same reasons, each practice made Dale, a veteran driver, look like a miserable person, totally uncomfortable with his car, demanding more grip over the machine. Talking to Harvick in a Dale Jr Download episode, Junior revealed, “You’d run all these races and be so frustrated with the car or the balance and this ain’t happening. This is not working and you’re just a miserable individual. Even when things are great, you get this little miserable part always living inside…”

However, when Dale Earnhardt Jr went to Homestead-Miami for his last race as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver, he felt like he would miss practice. He said, “…that last year I went, Imma f****g miss practice. I can’t believe I’m gonna miss practice. This is actually one of the parts that I’m gonna miss. When I got down to that last race… I was like man, I’m never gonna run the wall at Homestead again… Damn! I wanna do this more; I’m not ready to stop doing this.”

After heading to Dale, one might wonder what is it that Kevin Harvick would miss the most as a driver. Well, there is no need to ponder. The former Stewart Haas Racing driver himself revealed what he loved the most about racing and also what he’ll not miss at all.

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Kevin Harvick shed light on how competition “consumes” the best of the lot

According to Kevin Harvick, the coolest thing about his last race as a NASCAR driver was the fact that he was able to lead for a while. That roaring sound of the fans cheering while the driver leads a race is perhaps the sweetest sound for the former #4 driver.

“I did look to the right and say I know they’re cheering. I know they are happy,” said Harvick. “I did look up there and say, that’s pretty cool. I’m gonna miss that.”

“Because I love doing things that people don’t really think you should do and I don’t know that people expected us to go out and do the last year the way we did it but I wanted to do it better and I wanted to tell a story for 30 years of racing but I think that competitive side of leading laps and having the crowd cheering and knowing that you’re giving somebody something to cheer about is something I’ll miss,” he added.

However, Harvick admitted that he’d still be happy to get rid of that competitive mindset. With a curious Mike Davis wondering, Harvick explained, “Because, it consumes you. It makes you happy, but it also makes you mad and miserable.”

With 40 cars running at blazing speed and just one winner’s trophy up for grabs, a bit of push-and-shove is expected. But over the course of three decades, this competitive mindset can take a toll on the driver’s psyche. And nobody knows that better than Kevin Harvick.

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