"Ask Dale Junior" Segment Shared by Hendrick Motorsports Champions Club

Hendrick Motorsports Champions Club recently released a video interview of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to their members.  The interview, entitled "Ask Dale Junior", was done by Beth Jones.

Jones asked questions of NASCAR's most popular driver, ranging from "What did you do over Christmas vacation?" to "What is your favorite car"?

To the first question, Junior answered that he had a quiet Christmas with his mom and sister and to the latter question, Junior responded he loves a 1969 Corvette convertible with side pipes.

In the interview, Junior talked about what he does to get ready for a race, sharing that he really does not have any particular system. Since each track is different, he said that he prepares differently each and every time, depending on the race conditions.

Earnhardt Jr. did share that he loves video games, especially Rock Band. But when he is "trapped in the bus" on race weekends, he primarily likes to play college football video games, including anything Madden, and the Tiger Woods golf video.

Junior also talked about his favorite charity. Assuming this would be the Dale Junior Foundation, it was somewhat surprising to hear that the Make A Wish Foundation was truly Junior's favorite charity.

No doubt, there is an incredible connection that occurs for him with a young fan who is sick and just wants to spend some time with their NASCAR idol. Junior understands loss and grief, so most likely can related to these fans struggling with life-threatening or chronic illnesses.

The most interesting moments of the interview, however, came with Junior talking about his teammates and who he would most like to race against. 

Regarding having Mark Martin as a teammate, Junior responded that he is great to work with and has an amazing work ethic. From his answer, it almost seemed that Dale Junior was hoping that some of that would rub off on him.

Junior then tackled the subject of teammate Jeff Gordon. He said it was a bit challenging to go from being chief rivals to teammates, noting it was "kind of strange" to race each other hard yet still help each other off the track.

The most wistful moments of the interview occurred when Junior was talking about the drivers he would have most liked to have raced against. 

The drivers he named were all past greats from "back in the day" as Junior would say.  They included Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, and the Allisons.

Touchingly, Junior also shared his most ardent wish, to have raced against his grandfather Ralph Earnhardt.  And of course, he would have loved to have had more time to race against his own legendary father.

Junior ended the interview by sharing that he has a new appreciation for racing now that he is an owner as well as a driver.  He said this experience has "taught him more patience" and also to "keep his mouth shut more often".

Kudos go to Hendrick Motorsports Champions Club for sharing this most revealing, insider look at NASCAR's most popular and often most misunderstood driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.