"I would be miserable": Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he won't make it in NASCAR today because he's 'too lazy'

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently spoke about putting time in the simulator ahead of his appearance in the Xfinity race at Bristol. He mentioned he saw Austin Dillon at around 6:00 pm.

This surprised the NASCAR Hall of Famer, especially when he learned that Dillon is in the sim every Monday and Tuesday, traveling from Welcome, North Carolina, to Charlotte. After learning this and that Dillon has to attend team meetings following a race, he said:

"I told him I was like, 'If I had to be a race car driver today I would be miserable,' because the work, the weak work used to not exist, right? You just had to stay in reasonably good shape, have a couple conversations with a crew chief, you felt pretty prepared. But now there's just so much stuff they do during the week that just, I'm lazy (...) I'm lazy, too lazy." [01:43]

Following this, a fan asked Earnhardt Jr. how much sim he does, to which he revealed that he did an hour in prep for the Bristol race. Earnhardt went on to describe his thoughts on racing in the sim as he said:

"The sim for me, I got a little nauseous in it yesterday, it's a little different every time you go, they are always messign with it, so visually it's sometimes very easy and then sometimes you get in it and you're like, 'Ugh, I feel sick, something is not right,'" Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.

Earnhardt Jr. recalled how he was in the car, which stopped after he was done testing. But then it began to slide down the track and he felt like throwing up, "a weird thing" to him.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared his pre-race physical prep in a 2018 interview

During a 2018 interview with Mens Journal, Dale Earnhardt Jr. opened up on his fitness routine to physically prep for a race. He revealed that he lifts some weights from time to time. But that for him was just for fun, and to feel good.

"I think it would be important to run on the treadmill and have some endurance. Biking or anything like that would be a big help. Swimming, even. But hydrating is most important. The car gets really hot, 120 to 130°, so you lose about eight pounds of water weight each race. I drink a lot of water, or mix it with orange Gatorade," Dale Earnhardt Jr. added.

As for how he remains sharp mentally inside a racecar, Earnhardt Jr. said that part of the driver's skillset becomes instinct. He claimed that the car demands mental sharpness considering the speeds, the level of danger involved, and the uncertain nature of racecar driving. He mentioned that a driver has to be "plugged in" from the minute he pushes the gas pedal.