Dale Earnhardt Jr. is NASCAR royalty; Charles Barkley is one of the all-time greats on the hardwood. When the two of them get together to race, you’d think Dale Jr. would run away with the race. According to Earnhardt, though, Barkley “isn’t turrible” as a driver.
According to an AP report , the two first expressed an interest in meeting one another through Twitter.
“ @bentbradley : @DaleJr did you hear Charles Barkley wants to meet you? http://t.co/b8nbD8M8kE ” this is awesome! Heck, I wanna meet Charles!
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) April 29, 2014
Mums the word concerning who won the race — our money’s on Dale Earnhardt Jr., for what it’s worth — but fans of NASCAR’s favorite son or Sir Charles Barkley can find out for sure by watching the race themselves. The race will be aired on TNT on June 8, before the Pocono event. You can watch it on TNT or check The Inquisitr for a preview article giving details of where the race can be watched at that time.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s praise of Charles Barkely’s driving skills may have been tepid – though, truthfully, most NASCAR fans would be thrilled to have Dale Jr. say their driving “isn’t turrible”- but his words for Barkley as a person were more glowing. An AP report quotes Earnhardt saying:
“I was really surprised how nice a guy he was. I really expected him to be a competitor. As a player, he was really fiery and aggressive, getting into scuffles. He was super nice. Really has an appreciation for our sport. Just a real nice guy to be around. We’ll just have to save the results for later, but you can imagine how it went.”
In the meanwhile, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is gearing up, along with NACAR’s best drivers, for tonight’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway . You can read a preview and find links to watch the race streaming online live in this article by The Inquisitr .
Dale Jr. has had quite a year this year, even before his head-to-head race with the basketball superstar. He passed his famous father, Dale Sr. up with his second win at Daytona and he’s been competitive in most of the Sprint Cup races and in the points, despite having a crash at the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway . All of this amid rumors that he might retire , perhaps hinted at by his own comments that NASCAR would be OK without him .
What do you think? Did Dale Earnhardt Jr. leave Sir Charles Barley in the dust, or is saying he isn’t “turrible” a teaser for an upset?