Our weekly series of NASCAR driver interviews continues with Dale Earnhardt Jr., who returns this weekend to the spot of his last victory: Michigan International Speedway. USA TODAY Sports spoke with Earnhardt at Dover.

Q: Whose driving style is the most similar to yours?

A: Current driver?

Anybody you want.

Well, it's definitely nothing like my dad's style. More like Bobby Allison's style.

Really? What makes you say that?

It's not on purpose, it's just I make decisions based on my own personality and my own personal judgment. I think that's more similar to a guy like Bobby Allison or Donnie Allison or maybe Darrell Waltrip a little bit.

As for current guys, I don't really know. Everybody is so different. We all look at each other like nobody is really similar. I don't even look at two other drivers in the field and find people similar to each other.

12 QUESTIONS: Catch up on the series with Jeff Gluck

Q: How much of your own memorabilia do you collect? Do you keep firesuits, helmets, diecast cars and things like that?

A: As much as I can. We try to work with Hendrick (Motorsports) on that. Of course, a lot of driver suits end up at charity events and stuff like that, but we try to keep at least a couple helmets a season. We do six uniforms throughout a season and if we have a special paint scheme, we'll have two or three uniforms for that week. So I'll get one of those, at least.

What do you do with all of it?

I store them. They're just somewhere in containers.


A: Winning the championship is more than 50% driver. It's probably 60% driver, 40% car. I don't really know where luck fits in there – over the course of a season, everybody catches their breaks.

SUPERHERO LINK: It's a bird, it's a plane...what's on Junior's car?


A: Damn. Just so many names, you know? It's not just one guy, not just one person. I'd say here lately it's been Rick (Hendrick). I'd say it's been Mr. Hendrick.

Do you call him "Rick" or "Mr. Hendrick" when you talk to him?

When I talk to him, I call him "Rick." A lot of guys call him "Mr. H."

Q: There are so many people who want a piece of your time during a race weekend – your team, sponsors, media, fans. With all of that demand, how do you divide up the time or prioritize who gets what slice of your schedule?

A: Well, you just do whatever you have time for at the moment. You make those kind of decisions on the spur of the moment. It's really hard to explain.

This is a really good example right here: If we're in the garage and we just practiced for an hour, I like to get into the hauler and sit down with (crew chief) Steve (Letarte) without really doing anything in between that. Now, there are going to be fans that you'll stop for and sign autographs, but I won't do a picture or take a lot of time, because I'm trying to remember all that information and not let anything happen to me that's going to distract me so that when I get in here, he can get what he needs out of me about the car in that particular practice.

After practice, there's like a 30-minute window when you can get all that stuff done, and then you start to change your priorities a little bit – sign autographs or whatever it is you want to do. Anytime really before practice – like right now -- this (doing interviews) is the priority. That's become the standard – the 45 minutes before practice, there's going to be some media and you're going to do media, whatever Laura (Scott, Earnhardt's public relations representative) has lined up. That's the priority for that time frame.

Q: I often hear fans say something to drivers like, "Hey, remember me from that autograph session three years ago?" So it seems they want to be remembered, even if that's not realistic. But if a fan really wants to be remembered by you, what is something he or she could do to stand out?

A: A lot of times, it'll be something tangible like a picture they might have shown me or a diecast they made that I signed. It's something unique to them where I go, "Oh yeah! The guy with the thing!" You know?

Typically, it might be a story they tell me or something when I see them a year or two later, they say, "Hey, I'm the guy who had this happen." That's the easiest way for me to remember.

So what percent of the time do you actually remember when people say that? It has to be pretty difficult.

It's really hard. It's very, very hard. Because a lot of times, everybody has distractions. Even though you and me are doing this interview, there's probably five more things working in the back of our minds somewhere.

So even when you're standing there meeting someone and shaking their hand and saying hello, there are two or three other projects running through the back of your mind, in your subconscious. It's really hard to put 100% of your attention to any one action. Even in a conversation with Steve, I have to really work hard to shut down everything going on in the back of my mind to make sure I've maximized the opportunity when we're talking.

It's the same way with meeting somebody. There's so much (stuff) going on that you're thinking about what you're about to do or what you just did that you kind of breeze through those things sometimes without really putting it in your memory bank.

Q: The last guy you wrecked – did you do it on purpose?

A: Um…no. I haven't wrecked anybody on purpose in a long time.

I'm not sure who the last person was, actually.

I can't remember, either. I'm trying to remember; I bet they'd remember!

But what that question reminds me of is when we go to the drivers meetings, NASCAR plays the highlights from the same race a year ago. And it's only happened a couple of times, but you're sitting there and the highlights will show me run into a guy and it keeps going on a loop. We'll see it five times in 10 minutes waiting on the drivers meeting to start.

And I'm wondering, "Does that guy remember that? And does this renew his rage to get me back? Does this remind him I'm on this list that he needs to check off?" So me and Steve laugh about that because we think it's a deterrent to us trying to go out there and race. It starts (stuff) that doesn't need to be started – or rekindles old disagreements.

Q: Speaking of old disagreements, is there a driver in the garage you used to clash with and now you get along with him for whatever reason?

A: Yeah, I think me and Kyle (Busch), we were really in a bit of a war of words in the media for years. We were sort of pitted against each other as rivals when he went from Hendrick to (Joe) Gibbs (Racing), but I think that's all dissolved and gone away. He's still a real competitive racer and pretty fun to race, but we have a lot more cordial attitude toward each other when we're around each other.

It kind of comes and goes with guys. You've got to be careful about who you spend time talking to, because something always happens. Let's say you go up to a guy at driver intros (the pre-race starting lineup ceremony) and say, "What's up, man?! What have you been doing? I haven't had a chance to talk to you. We race all the damn time and we never get a chance to B.S." Well, inevitably, that's the guy you end up running into in the race.

So you sort of limit your communication with your competitors. You keep it to a minimum, because once you build friendships like that, it's really hard for two guys to know how to manage it. When things don't go right on the racetrack with each other or when somebody gets raced too hard or somebody gets run into the wall or doesn't get enough racing room, it gets their feelings hurt. So you just avoid all that by keeping the relationships professional.

PHOTOS: Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s property

Show Thumbnails
Show Captions

Has that been a big change for you over the years?

You still genuinely care about people and what's going on in their lives, and when somebody has a kid or something, you're happy for them. But I used to have a lot of guys I hung out with away from the racetrack, and now I don't. I see Brad Keselowski every once in awhile because he lives near me, and me and Regan (Smith) hang out because he works for me, but we don't really race against each other anymore.

But like (Jamie) McMurray and Elliott Sadler and (Martin) Truex, I used to hang out with those guys all the time. We'd get a weekend off and go party together somewhere. We don't do that anymore as much. Maybe it's because we grew up a little bit, too; we're older now.

I don't know, though. Aside from Kyle, there are probably a few drivers you get to know better and sort of see who they are as a person instead of just the guy on the racetrack. When you're around a sport awhile and sort of get to know everybody, you start to appreciate people more instead of just seeing a number and a sponsor and a competitor.

Q: What's the best racing-related movie?

A: I always liked The Last American Hero, the one about Junior Johnson with Jeff Bridges in it. Came out in the early 1970s. It's an old movie, so some of the dialogue is really simple, but back then, they didn't really sensationalize movies like they do now. Like in Days of Thunder, things are going crazy on the racetrack and flipping around and hoods are flying off and there are racy relationships off the track – everything is so dramatic.

Well, back then, they didn't really do that to movies. They tried to let the plot and the storyline stand on its own. There's a lot of great racing footage in that movie, and I just really enjoy it. I think the storyline is pretty cool and it's a good movie whether it's about racing or something completely different.

Q: What's your song of the moment right now? Like a song you're listening to a lot and can't get enough of it.

A: Oh, I've got it right here (pulls out his phone and scrolls through music library). It's called Power Trip by J. Cole. I don't know why I like that song, but it's a good song.

Q: Define yourself without NASCAR. Who are you away from all the racing?

A: Just real laid back, easygoing, like to have a good time, get together with a bunch of friends. I like to sit around the pool, listen to music, barbecue, grill, stuff like that. Just the guy next door, I guess.

Q: I've been asking each driver to give me a question for the next interview. Last week was David Ragan, and he wanted to know: "If there was a four-week hiatus from NASCAR and you could go do whatever you wanted, what would you do?" He wanted to know if you'd sit by the pool, go race Late Models, go on vacation or what.

A: I probably would go race Late Models. I'd go to Myrtle Beach (Speedway) or Motor Mile (Radford, Va.) and just go have a little fun. Late Model racing was you and your buddies, volunteer help and everybody trying to pitch in with nobody really knowing what to do. It was just a real simple, relaxed way to go about racing and have fun. It was a half-day show, you know? You were in and out. I'd probably do that.

I'd also like to get out on Lake Norman. I don't really get a chance to get out on the lake and sit on the boat anymore. Not as much as I'd like to, anyway; I only get out there two or three times a summer.

And do you have a question I can ask the next person? It's Nelson Piquet Jr.

Yeah. What was his toughest adjustment and most glaring thing about driving a stock car that stood out to him (after he came over from Formula One). Like what was hard to get used to? The tires? The chassis? The downforce? The track surfaces? I'd like to know what jumped out at him that he didn't expect when he got involved.



-- "Pandora is No. 1."

-- "TeamStream, which is an app by Bleacher Report."

-- "Amazon. I can't stop buying (stuff) off Amazon."

PHOTOS: Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s career

Show Thumbnails
Show Captions