So I was listening to the Dale Jr. Download podcast on the way to Talladega Superspeedway this morning, and my ears perked up at one of the discussions.
It turns out Earnhardt often doesn’t carry a wallet — or a drivers license — when he leaves the house (he said he didn’t think he needed to actually have the actual license on him, but fans watching on Periscope set him straight).
Leaving a drivers license at home is one thing, but the whole wallet? I had to know: How does someone function in daily life without carrying any money for gas or food?
As it turns out, it’s actually a reasonable explanation.
“I have a gas tank at the house, so I don’t buy gas at the store,” he said. “We buy gas in bulk — it’s a little cheaper. That’s something Kenny Wallace told me a long time ago when I was fixing up my property in about 2002 or 2003: He’s like, Get you a gas tank and buy it in bulk — it’s cheaper. That way, you don’t have to go anywhere to get gas; you just pull out of the driveway, pump it right there and get on down the road.”
And as for food?
“Usually if I don’t have my wallet and it’s time to eat, whoever is with me is going to buy the food,” he said. “I’m good for it, though. So it’s usually no big discussion.”
Earnhardt said he leaves the house without a wallet roughly half the time, but it’s not on purpose. He’d prefer to have the wallet with him, but he just forgets.
“It’s a pain in the butt, because I go to JR Motorsports and I don’t have my key to get in the door,” he said. “I have to have somebody come down there and get me in, which is a little embarrassing for the guy that owns the building.”
The thing is, Earnhardt said his wallet isn’t usually on his mind because “I don’t really spend money.”
“I don’t really go buy stuff,” he said. “Usually when I’m out and about, I’m going to do something as far as a responsibility with my team — going to a team meeting or something like that — and I’m not really hardly in a store to physically purchase anything. I guess that’s why I keep forgetting it — because I don’t hardly need it.”