12 Questions with Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Our series of weekly NASCAR driver interviews continues with Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won the most recent race at the Sprint Cup Series' next stop: Martinsville Speedway.

Q: If NASCAR allowed you to listen to music while you were racing, would you want to?

A: Yeah, I would. I think it'd be cool, because they have the technology where the crew chief or anybody important could override the music and talk. But you could keep it kinda low where it's not really a distraction but always there in the background.

I've always wondered about that, but I couldn't even get an iPod in the car for testing at Daytona years ago. I used to bug (former crew chief) Tony (Eury) Jr. about it. Anytime I'd be on my phone, even testing at boring old Daytona, he'd be like, "Man!" I've snuck my phone into my car the last couple years on tests, but not for listening to music.

What kind of music would you listen to?

I'd get Pandora going with Bob Seger. You can't thumbs up or thumbs down while you're driving — you can't skip songs if you don't like it — so you've got to pick something pretty solid. I can trust Bob Seger Pandora.

Q: Where did your first paycheck come from?

A: My first paycheck came from an Exxon gas station on Exit 36 off (Interstate) 77. I'd gotten a speeding ticket, so my dad (Dale Earnhardt Sr.) made me get a job.

That gas station is still there, but when I worked there, it had a little service bay and I'd work on odd jobs on the cars. It was full service, so I was out there pumping gas.

There was a Waffle House out behind it, and we'd go eat chicken melts every day. That was the best part of the job, getting those chicken melts.

Q: Who is an autograph you got as a kid that seemed to be a big deal to you at the time?

A: I got Tom Cruise's autograph when he came. He was preparing for his role in Days of Thunder and he was going around talking to people. They brought him over to Dad's farm, and him and Dad went into Dad's office and sat in there for about an hour.

It was Tom and one of the producers, and it was pretty early in putting the film together. And the rumor is they had actually asked Dad in that meeting to play Rowdy Burns. But I don't know if that's true. He never said that, but that was kind of the rumor that went around. I was only a little kid, so I was going to believe that.

But I think I got Tom's autograph that day, and it was pretty neat to meet him. He was a lot shorter than I thought, and he was younger — he had a lot of pimples — and he just looked like a normal guy. I thought that was pretty cool.

Q: Where's a place you've never been that you'd like to go visit?

A: Well, I'm going to Germany in June. I've been doing my genealogy and I traced my lineage to back over there. My sister (Kelley Earnhardt Miller), L.W. (Miller, his brother-in-law) and Amy (Reimann, his girlfriend) are going over there with our (JR Motorsports) IT department leader, Martin Friedrich, who is German.

Martin has helped me read a lot of the documents from some of the churches over there pertaining to my family, and it's all in Old German, so he's been such a help. He's going with us to show us around, and we're going to try to do a little digging while we're there as far as getting a little more information. So that's something I'm really excited about.

One of the best trips I ever took was to Australia years ago to see a V8 Supercar race, and I'd love to go to a Formula One race overseas to watch those guys get after it.

Q: Do people ever accuse you of being addicted to your phone?

A: I feel guilty about it! I get that sense of guilt all the time, especially up in the lounge (in the No. 88 team transporter). I sit in there all day long, like between practice and qualifying — we've got three or four hours — so I'm accountable. But as soon as five minutes go by and nobody is asking me anything and they're in their keyboards and laptops, off I go into my phone and start messing around. And I get that guilt about it.

But I haven't had anybody come out and say anything. I'm in it all the time, though; I can't put it down. Amy complains at the house, because I'm on my iPad all the time. I'm on that damn thing from the time I get home until the time I go to bed, pretty much.

Right now I'm addicted to SimCity BuildIt. I played Clash of Clans for a long, long time but I'm taking a little break. SimCity BuildIt, that's where it's at for me right now. (Laughs)

Q: If a genie promised you a championship in exchange for never being able to do your favorite hobby again, would you accept that offer?

A: I think I would. I would give up barbecuing for a championship. It would be easier than giving up a toe, which is what was proposed as an alternative (last year on Twitter). That was hard, because no, I'm not cutting off a toe. But I'd certainly give up barbecuing. I can certainly find another hobby to fulfill my off time.

PHOTOS: Behind the wheel with Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Q: What's your preferred method of dealing with an angry driver after a race?

A: I definitely don't go talk to them immediately. You're not in your right mind, and you're not going to fix anything right then and there. Seeing the guy immediately after the event is probably not the best; let him go and watch the film and get sort of calmed down and get some reasonable thoughts going through his head about what happened, even if he doesn't change his opinion and thinks you did him wrong.

But I'd call him up, text him. If it's serious enough, you've got to go to dinner or something. If it's that bad, you've got to get face to face somewhere so they can see it in your eyes and your face what your sincerity is.

I think you at least have to call the guy; he deserves that. Because over the years, you either do it wrong or you hear about somebody else doing it wrong, where a guy says, "Man, that guy (freakin') ran me over and he didn't even call me! What a (jerk). He didn't even apologize or nothing. He didn't have any kind of remorse or take responsibility for it!" So that pisses a guy off. You've got to call 'em and let them know — even if they don't believe you — that you're extending that olive branch to try and make things right.

But sometimes you're both mad at each other and both bullheaded, so nobody calls each other. Then those things go on for weeks and sometimes you run into each other again before it's over.

Have you had to take anyone to dinner recently?

No, not in a long, long time. I've done that with employees though, when they don't get along. When it gets to the point where there are two guys and someone has got to go or they're saying, "I can't work with this guy," I'll say, "Look, man, both of you have to go to dinner and hash this out." And it works.

Q: Do you ever get mistaken for another driver or celebrity?

A: (Laughs) Yeah, Brian Vickers a couple times. I think the casual fan gets me for Brian Vickers every once in awhile.

And I get picked on by my friends that I look like Doogie Howser (Neil Patrick Harris' TV sitcom character). I think that's more to get under my skin a little bit, which I don't really mind.

That's not a horrible person to get compared to.

It's not. He's pretty successful. But I mean, I am who I am. I know where I'm at.

Q: If you had a time machine and you could travel to any year and race, where would you go?

A: Oh, the '70s, absolutely. I would have loved to race from 1970 to 1980. The '79 season looked awesome. Maybe drive an old Laguna in '76, a '77 Buick Olds. The Dodge Charger in the late '70s at Daytona, that looked like an awesome car. I just wonder what those cars drove like. They all had way different chassis underneath them, and the competition and personalities were a lot different.

I was sort of around for the '80s and got a good idea what that might be like, and the '90s as well. So the '70s is really something I'm curious about.

Q: Would you rather have the ability to fly or be invisible?

A: Flying probably wouldn't be that much fun after awhile, but being invisible would never get old.

You could probably get through the garage a lot easier if you were invisible.

Sure. I mean, you could go anywhere. That could always be useful. You could be in those meetings and find out what everyone was saying about you. You could go up into the NASCAR hauler and be in their meetings and find out how they come up with some of these ideas.

Flying I'm sure could be useful at times, but more than anything, it'd just be a little gimmicky.

Q: I've been asking each person to give me a question for the next interview. The last interview was with Kyle Larson, and he wanted to know: After you're done with building the treehouse on your property, what will be your next project?

A: (Sighs) That's the thing, I'm trying to not have any more projects. The treehouse might be the finale. I threw grass seed down on my dirt track and I'm in the process of selling all my go-karts. I mean, 40 years old, I've had my fun with that.

I don't know if you saw, but I got that old Metrolina Speedway sign, and I tweeted about how I'm in the process of repainting and refurbishing it. I'm going to put that on the driveway as you're coming up to the dirt track, and I'm going to let the dirt track get seeded and then mow it, and it's still got the billboards and stuff from when we raced there, so it'll look like a miniature ghost track.

Like your own personal Lost Track?

Yes, exactly! That's going to be pretty neat, I think. But you know, I think my priorities are going to shift a little bit in the next four or five years where building a Western town or playing with a dirt track isn't going to be on the top of the list anymore. I'm getting a little older, and being around Amy and spending time with my friends and family and just enjoying people is going to be on the top of the list.

We've got so much (stuff) to play with out there. It's like enough's enough at some point. (Laughs)

How far along is your treehouse?

It's about 80%. You know that guy Pete (Nelson) who has the show (Treehouse Masters)? He sells plans on his website for about $100. So I bought a plan, and we went around the property and found a spot for it. I've got a photo if you want to see it (pulls out phone to show a huge treehouse under construction, built among several trees with a staircase leading up to it). It'll be a great place to hang out on Sundays after races, have a couple beers and wind down.

Q: And do you have a question I can ask the next driver?

A: When you find out who it is, can you let me know? I'd rather it be specific to the guy.

Q: Finally, how did this interview go on a scale of 1-10?

A: I'd say a 10. I like the questions because they're not the same ones we get asked all the time, and the one I did last year still resonates. All the stuff that happened with J. Cole (Earnhardt mentioned the hip-hop artist in last year's 12 Questions, which led to a shoutout in a J. Cole song and an ESPN The Magazine cover story with the two) was directly because of that interview and because you get to talk about something different.

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck

PHOTOS: The property of Dale Earnhardt Jr.