Dale Earnhardt Jr. describes the most important skill for a driver to have

Dale Earnhardt Jr. believes the most important skill for a driver to have is the “It” factor and the ability to “become one with the car.”

The NASCAR Hall of Famer discussed what it means to have “It” among a multitude of topics during a recent interview Jeff Gluck of The Athletic.

“The single greatest skill for someone in racing to possess doesn’t even have a name,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “It’s called the ‘It’ factor. It is the ability for you to become one with the car. You can feel and know exactly what kind of grip you’re dealing with as you go through a corner and you’re able to know exactly what all four tires can deliver. It allows you to be able to push the car right up to the very limit of what the tires can do.

“You go through a corner in a blink, but for the most amazing talents, that corner is a series of hundreds of processes of sensing grip, sensing the delta and the movement of the car and sensing loads in all four corners of the car and centrifugal forces and momentum. There’s all these little sensors popping off as a driver goes through the corner. For the greats, all of that stuff just feels natural and comes so easy. They can get the car to the very limit, corner after corner after corner.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. praises Kyle Larson for natural driving ability

Though a 26-time winner in the Cup Series and a member of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers list, Earnhardt Jr. said he wouldn’t necessarily use himself as an example of a driver who had the “It” factor. Earnhardt Jr. name-dropped 2021 Cup Series champion Kyle Larson as a driver today “who can just go out there and he’s right on it really quick.”

“I was not necessarily [that way],” Earnhardt Jr. said. “There were times when I was in the zone and I was able to do those things at certain times. But in most cases, I would have to go out on the racetrack and work my way up to where that limit was. It took me multiple corners, multiple laps to go, ‘Alright, I’m at the limit.’ The really, really great drivers can find it so much quicker. Mark Martin could go out on a racetrack in the late ’90s in his Xfinity car and put down the fastest lap on Lap 1 at nine o’clock in the morning with a dirty track and nobody was going to match it. He just could do it.

“Kyle Larson is another one who can just go out there and he’s right on it really quick. You’re gonna have to have an amazing car and be in the zone to be able to compete with him or beat him. It’s this raw ability. Some people are born with it who aren’t even race car drivers.”