CHARLOTTE, NC – Dale Earnhardt Jr. can keep a secret — sort of.
Earnhardt was told not to reveal the outcome of Friday morning’s go-kart race against former NBA All-Star Charles Barkley.
Then again, Earnhardt provoked questions about the segment he filmed with Barkley for TNT by tweeting photos of the event.
“I’m not supposed to tell you how it went because they want to leave it for the episode,” Earnhardt said Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “I guess it’s going to run on TNT with their pre-race coverage, somewhere like Pocono.
“I will tell you this. I was really surprised about how nice he was. I expected him to be a competitor, a little more aggressive in just his personality in knowing what kind of basketball player he was and the kind of guy he was on the court.
“He was fiery, and aggressive, and getting in tussles. But he was super nice. He just came in and was just really gracious and has an appreciation for our sport and was just a real nice guy to be around.”
After meeting Barkley, Earnhardt had this to say on Twitter: “Enjoyed meeting Chuck today. Very nice guy. Not a turrible driver either (a spoof on the way Barkley pronounces ‘terrible’).”
And as far as the outcome of the race goes, Earnhardt couldn’t resist a hint.
“We’ll just have to save the results for later … but you can imagine how it went,” Earnhardt said.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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