Dale Jr.’s new adventure
Dale Earnhardt Jr. transitions to broadcaster
MINNEAPOLIS – Dale Earnhardt Jr. admits that only a few years ago he would have laughed off the stunt that served as his post-retirement debut as an NBC broadcaster.
Behind the seat of a snow cat, Earnhardt drove colleague Rutledge Wood up a snow-covered slope downtown, one of the many features erected as part of the Super Bowl festivities. The spot was shown as part of Sunday’s pregame coverage on NBC.
“When I first started racing, for the longest time, I was like, ‘Nope. Don’t like that. That’s not me. I’m not that person. I don’t do those things. I’ll never drive a snow cat in my life. Why would I get in one? That’s not real,’ ” a smiling and shivering Earnhardt said after a live shot in which he tubed down the same slope on Sunday.
“People would want you to wear your (fire) suit in commercials in unrealistic places, like a grocery store. ‘This is stupid. I am not wearing my suit in a grocery store because that would never happen.’ I just totally dropped all that, and I’ve been a little more — a lot more — open to putting myself out there.”
Earnhardt, 43, has always been affable, at least for those close to him during his 18-plus seasons in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. But he was more guarded around the media much of that time until near the end of his racing career, which concluded, at least in terms of full-time racing, at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November.
Beyond the snow cat and tubing shoots, Earnhardt also skijored (skiing while being pulled by a dog), played broomball (basically, hockey with a broom instead of a stick and shoes in- stead of skates), raced snowmobiles and went ice fishing.
“He caught a fish,” Wood said of the ice fishing shoot that was taped last Thursday. “It didn’t make the cut. It was probably 41⁄ inches. I convinced him that up here in the winter they do ‘catch, kiss and release,’ which I got from (the Petty family charity camp) Victory Junction. He looks at me. I say, ‘Hey, they’re all watching and they’re from Minnesota.’ Sure enough, he kisses the fish and puts it back in and it swam off. It was awesome.”
Speaking of an aquatic creature outside its natural habitat, that’s how Earnhardt described his role both at the Super Bowl as well as his forthcoming work at the Winter Olympics at NBC.
“At this particular point in my broadcasting career, if they are going to put me in a situation where I need study, they are going to let me know that,” Earnhardt said. “Right now, at the Super Bowl and Olympics, I’m more of a fishout-of-water guy. It’s best that I don’t even know.”
It’s a role that Wood, who for more than a decade as a racing broadcaster has co-hosted Top Gear and other shows, knows well. Wood said the change in Earnhardt’s willingness to try new things is evident since the two have been paired up.
“He told me 10 years ago this wouldn’t have been possible,” Wood said. “He was not in a place where he’d be open enough. If you look at the influence (Earnhardt’s wife) Amy has had on his life and also the accident and recovery (from his last concussion during the 2016 season), it’s been a huge process.
“He’s a person who spent so much time understanding you have to hit your marks and hit your turns (on the racetrack). He wants to hit those same spots out here, which is really cool because you never really know how things are going to go when somebody crosses over into a different field.”
It was announced that Earnhardt would be bobsledding and speedskating along with various “outdoor events and adventures” as part of NBC Sports’ broadcast team at the Winter Olympics, which open Friday.
As of Sunday, NBC hadn’t given him all the particulars. “Are we speedskating?” he asked Wood.
Earnhardt hadn’t attended a Super Bowl and this will be his first Olympics. The short NASCAR offseason didn’t allow him to take part in such activities, even as a spectator, during his driving career.
Earnhardt will return to racing this year as a driver in at least two Xfinity Series races for his team, JR Motorsports, and then to the booth when NBC picks up its NASCAR slate of races starting in July. He will also be the grand marshal at the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb 18, right after he gets back from the Olympics in South Korea.
Earnhardt laid out his main goal as a broadcaster, which was pretty straightforward. “The biggest learning curve is to not be straight nervous when you get in front of the camera,” Earnhardt said. “Trying to be yourself in front of the camera, be your true self, is going to take some time. I think I’ll get there. I am not as nervous as I would have been 10 or 15 years ago. I have a little confidence. I think the more repetitions ... are going to make me calmer and more genuine.”