“Where did this guy come from, what is his story?”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. eager to find “lot” of answers from McLaren CEO Zak Brown 

On Tuesday, September 10, Arrow McLaren Indy Car Team and Hendrick Motorsport announced they will race again at the Indy 500 2025, and Kyle Larson will run for them. This big news caught Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s attention, and he invited McLaren's CEO to his podcast, the Dale Jr. Download.

Earnhardt shared a snippet on his X account and revealed that he would be in conversation with Zak Brown on his podcast. Notably, Earnhardt Jr. is eager to ask Brown a series of questions about the latter's past.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. stated, "I want to talk to with Zak Brown. Where did this guy come from? What was his story? How did he get into the position to be over all of this and tell us what is McLaren?" [00:21]

He continued and added:

"Right. McLaren, to me, is different than a traditional manufacturer as I know it. Explain McLaren and its history and the rich history behind that. And what that means to him, so it'll be a different topic, different conversation than what we're used to, and I can't wait to talk to him; it's going to be awesome." [00:31]

Dale Earnhardt Jr. also shared one of the lesser-known facts about Zak Brown- that he owns Earnhardt Jr.'s father's car from 1984. Brown has the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Monte Carlo raced for Richard Childress.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s views on Kyle Larson's decision to run in the Indy 500

Kyle Larson raced in the Indy 500 this year in May and missed the Coke 600 due to a rain delay. In an interview on 5 Goat's website, Dale Earnhardt Jr. supported Larson's decision despite missing the Coke 600.

"So the way I feel about it is this. Kyle Larson has to run the Indy 500. They have so much invested in that race. They’ve prepared all month, practicing, qualifying, money has been spent. There’s no way he can back out of trying to run that event. So all right. That has to move forward, and it did. Right? That’s the choice they made, and that’s fine," stated Earnhardt.

Kyle Larson finished in 18th position in the Indy 500, and some of the areas where he lacked caught him up during the race. Larson even got a waiver from NASCAR to stay eligible for the playoffs.

Earnhardt highlighted, "So was it all worth it for Larson? That’s something he would have figured out well in advance of actually attempting the double."

Continuing further, he added:

"Kyle may miss the 600. I’m totally fine with that. That decision was not made Sunday. That decision was made way back when Kyle Larson said, ‘I want to do the double.’ Because when you make that choice, you’ve got to know that anything could happen to make it tough to make both events, right? So he made that choice a long time ago, and I’m fine with it. And if something happens, which it did, that would make him miss the 600, that’s what happens. No problem."

Despite Larson's performance, the host of the Dale Jr. Download respected his decision and praised him for the same.