NASCAR: Dale Earnhardt Jr. ‘had a conversation’ about replacing Kyle Larson

Former NASCAR Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. admitted that he dreamed of the opportunity to replace Kyle Larson at Chip Ganassi Racing and even “had a conversation” about it.

Not many people saw the NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday, March 8 at Phoenix Raceway turning into Kyle Larson’s last behind the wheel of the #42 Chevrolet at Chip Ganassi Racing.

But that’s exactly what happened amid the coronavirus pandemic, at least for the foreseeable future.

Five weeks later on Sunday, April 12, the 27-year-old Elk Grove, California native was competing in a NASCAR race on iRacing at virtual Autodromo Nazionale Monza when he used the N-word. This race was being live streamed on multiple Twitch channels.

More from NASCAR Cup Series

• NASCAR Cup Series: New team set to compete in 2024
• NASCAR: Surprising name continuously linked to new seat
• NASCAR driver at risk of missing the Daytona 500?
• NASCAR set for rare appearance last seen 13 years ago
• NASCAR team adds third car, names driver for 2024 Daytona 500

The hits started coming for Larson the following day. He was suspended indefinitely by both Chip Ganassi Racing and NASCAR, and NASCAR mandated that he complete sensitivity training before returning.

Then primary sponsors Credit One Bank and McDonald’s cut ties with him while remaining loyal to Chip Ganassi Racing. Chevrolet suspended their relationship with the six-time Cup Series winner as well, effectively forcing Chip Ganassi’s hand.

As a result, Ganassi fired Larson.

There was a lot of speculation regarding who Ganassi may select to replace Larson behind the wheel of the #42 Chevrolet, with much of that speculation pointing in the direction of Ross Chastain.

Instead, Ganassi went with the previously retired Matt Kenseth, the 2003 Cup Series champion. According to reports, Carl Edwards, another retired driver, was contacted about the vacancy but refused to come out of retirement.

Another ex-driver had it on his mind as well.

While he wasn’t contacted about it directly, 15-time Most Popular Driver Award winner Dale Earnhardt Jr., who retired after the 2017 season, stated on his “Dale Jr. Download” podcast that he “did dream” about potentially replacing Larson at Ganassi’s team for the rest of the 2020 season.

"“I bet Matt’s pretty excited. Can’t lie, man, I did dream about the opportunity of driving that car. … You’re not a race car driver if you don’t have any competitive blood flowing through your veins whenever a car opens up. I don’t care who it is or what situation it is.“If you don’t think about driving or what it would be like driving it — and I certainly did that. There’s more to the story than you’d even know.”"

In fact, he and wife Amy even had a conversation about it, but given the concussion issues with which he battled during the latter stages of his 18-year Cup Series career and the fact that he now has one daughter and another child on the way, he decided against pursuing it.

"“Me and (Amy) had a conversation about it. Because I really had to think hard about whether it’s something I wanted to try to pursue. I told her, I said look, ‘If we weren’t married and I was single, I’d be in that car in a heartbeat. I probably would’ve never stopped.’“And that’s to say that I would not preserve myself, or take care of myself or have any reason to take care of myself, for Isla and our new daughter coming down the road, to be a part of their lives 10, 15, 20 years from now when they’re going through some key moments when they’re going to need their dad — and they’re going to need their dad 100 percent.”"

The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, which has been at a standstill since that race at Phoenix Raceway more than eight weeks ago, is scheduled to get back underway at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, May 17. Fox is set to broadcast the race live from the Darlington, South Carolina oval beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET.