"I've been hearing a lot of talk about representing the sport and whether I would be one of those guys to do that or not, and maybe that's why I pressure myself on wearing just normal clothes every day and being myself," says Earnhardt. "I get a lot of flack from my sponsor for not having their logo all over my back and my shoulders and my head. Walking around in a pair of Adidas is pretty cool to me, and I want people to know that's who I am. And if you don't mind that guy who represents the sport wearing Adidas and the hat backwards, then that's fine. But if you do mind, then look somewhere else.
"You can't fool the public. When you dress somebody up and they do the dance, I think the public can tell the difference between somebody who's sincere and somebody who's not. Although I'm very proud of my relationship with all my sponsors-whether it be Budweiser or Drakkar or whoever-I don't feel like it's that necessary to don their logos everywhere I go. For some reason I think we can go further just being ourselves, and I think people will be more interested in that than billboarding."
Seeking Balance
At 27 Earnhardt Jr. is firmly established in the sport at the same age his father was as a rookie. Junior epitomizes NASCAR cool while his father at 27 was a throwback to the sport's rough-hewn past. Where Earnhardt Sr.'s trademark was a bushy mustache, Junior's trademark is a ball cap worn backwards. Yet there's a mellow, somewhat domesticated nature that reveals itself, despite the road trips-or rather because of the road trips and the balance they lend to his life. Last year he even shut down "Club E," the basement nightclub at his house. No, he's not married yet, although he has said a wife and a son would go a long way toward leading a full life. But there's only so much you can pack into a life like the one he's lived the last few years.
"For the most part, it's been a lot of fun," says Earnhardt. "Even the really heavy structure, when it gets to be like we're doing something every day, it's still fun. There was a point last year and the year before that, every once in a while, where you seem to kind of lose touch with your home life and your family and your friends. This year I'm going to try to be a little more related toward that end of it, to be more involved with my friends and family than I was last year and spend some more time around them and try to get what I want out of my professional life and social life. We've been so busy running around and everything over the last couple of years that it's been really hard to maintain good relationships with my family and my friends. I'll try to do a little better with that this year.
"My mother moved from Norfolk (Virginia) about a year ago. I can just drive two miles down the road and see her, and that's really great. My sister (Kelley) had Carson, my little niece, about a year and a half ago, and that's been a lot of fun to be around her. Those things like that have made a lot of difference."
The specter of who he is and where he's going in his chosen profession is never far away, though. Ultimately, he realizes success will be gauged solely by his performance on the track. "There are all kinds of things that I want to do, and I know that to be able to do I'll have to continue as a race car driver and be good at it," he says.
There are also the inevitable questions about goals and motivation that young, rich athletes face. Earnhardt fields questions about the importance of a breakout season with reference to a couple of drivers who reached the sport's pinnacle. "It's pretty important to me," he says. "I would say it's as important as it was to my father. If there's a gauge to go off of, I believe it would be just as important to me as it was to him or to Jeff Gordon or anybody else."