In an appearance on NBCSN’s “The Dan Patrick Show,” NASCAR on NBC analyst Dale Earnhardt Jr. was asked how he handled feuds with drivers during his racing career.
“I can’t shake it, I’ll think about it all the time,” Earnhardt said. “If I’ve got a problem with a driver, it just goes wherever I go and I hate that feeling. I like to be in good relationships with people, and I like to have everything positive. So when I’m not on good terms with a driver, it eats at me.”
In retirement, the 15-time most popular driver said he doesn’t have any leftover bad feelings from on-track accidents.
But there are lingering feelings with one of his former competitors - Kevin Harvick.
Last year, Harvick said he believed Earnhardt’s lack of success played “a big part in stunting the growth of NASCAR.”
The 2014 Cup champion later said “nothing personal” was intended by the comments.
“That stuff will stick for a really long time,” Earnhardt said. “That bothered me pretty bad. ... I think he at that point was intentionally trying to dig at me. Getting him to explain it wouldn’t have made me feel any better because I know it was a personal dig.”
Earnhardt, who will make his weekly appearance on NASCAR America tonight at 5 p.m. ET on NBCSN, also discussed the baby girl he and wife Amy are expecting on May 2.
“I’m nervous to do or go anywhere,” Earnhardt said. “Because this could happen at any moment.”
Though he won’t reveal the name they’ve chosen for her, Earnhardt wants his daughter to pursue something other than a career in racing.
“I hope she does something completely different with her life,” Earnhardt said. “That’s something I’m going to be interested in learning is whether she’ll even care about what I did. Will it even register. She’s going to look at stuff online or videos and go, ‘That was you?’ ... With today’s technology and everything that these kids have at their fingertips, there’s so many different ways her life could go.”
Watch the above video for more from Earnhardt on Harvick and the below video for Earnhardt’s comments on his daughter and the Washington Redskins.
