“It was really unhealthy for me”: When Dale Earnhardt Jr. reflected on how his rivalry with Kyle Busch ‘consumed’ him more than anything else

Dale Earnhardt Jr. once admitted to having an 'unhealthy' rivalry with Kyle Busch. In a 2019 interview with Jeff Gordon, Earnhardt Jr. said the rivalry consumed him and distracted him from focusing on races.

Earnhardt Jr. is a former NASCAR driver who won 26 Cup Series races. The rivalry started to heat up in the 2008 season when Dale Jr. took Busch's seat at Hendrick Motorsports.

While sports rivalries may be fun to watch, Dale Jr. said that this one was affecting his career.

"I had a rivalry with Kyle Busch. It was really unhealthy for me, personally." [4:20]

According to the former No. 88 HMS driver, the rivalry would shift his focus from the winning the race to avenging Kyle Busch.

"It wasn't good for me [...] I spent a couple years there, especially when I was struggling... consumed with getting him back or anytime he would needle me in the press or beating me on the track or whatever. I felt like more focused on that than anything else," he added.

Earnhardt Jr. later shared his perspective as a driver when it comes to rivalries, saying:

"As a driver, it's gotten tougher to get into a rivalry because it's just all you see the whole next week, all you get asked about for the next several weeks, and it's not fun." [5:39]

During the 2008 season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch had a fair share of wrecks in two different races at Richmond International Raceway. Busch wrecked Dale Jr. in the first Richmond race before the HMS star returned the favor to his rival in the fall race.

Today, the two seem to have put their rivalry as a thing of the past.

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"We patched up our differences on a podcast": When Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared making amends with Kyle Busch

In an interview with former NFL tight end Greg Olsen, Dale Earnhardt Jr. talked about his rivalry with Kyle Busch and how they cleared their issues. Dale Jr. said he and Busch already patched up their differences on his podcast.

The Kannapolis native shared:

"We actually did patch up our differences on a podcast. I invited him on. We had a great conversation where Kyle was super honest about how he saw his whole set of events and his perspective of the whole thing." [1:38]

He added:

"So it was great for me, and I think it was good for Kyle."

While the two drivers may be on good terms, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said some of their fans still couldn't get over the rivalry.

Earnhardt Jr. retired from the sport in 2017 with 26 career victories but no Cup championship. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch has won two Cup titles (2015 and 2019) and continues to compete in the premier series.

For 2025, Dale Jr. doesn't have plans to go racing, while Busch will return to the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing.