NASCAR Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a PC Gamer, folks

Good morning. The latest celebrity to be revealed as a PC Gamer is probably not one you'd expect, but also definitely one you'd expect. Famous NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a PC Gamer. "This hobby started back in the mid 90s," he said in a tweet, "I learned over the years how to upgrade hardware. I'd never built my own PC though." Dale Jr. has now built a PC. Congrats, Dale.

You might be surprised, but you probably shouldn't be. It makes sense that a person interested in the fine-tuning of a racing car would like to use an equally customized rig for gaming. Earnhardt Jr. said as much in his followup tweets, noting that IT work is a "fun profession IMO," as "Chasing technical problems and helping others with their own systems is something I enjoy."

Earnhardt Jr. will not drive an off-the-shelf car and he will not be doing any off-the-shelf gaming. At least not any more. I think that's an EVGA 3080, maybe a 3090, in there.

This isn't Earnhardt Jr.'s first relationship with gaming, however. He joined the team at iRacing as an exectuive director earlier this year. Like other race drivers, he's also done some streaming on Twitch, as Dale Earnhardt Jr 88, naturally.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a semi-retired racer now, but was an extremely prominent driver in the mid 2000s until about 2017, first behind the wheel of the No. 8 car, then the No. 88. He's the 15-time consecutive winner of the most popular driver award. His father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., was considered by many to be the greatest driver in the history of NASCAR.

As a fellow North Carolinian, I'd like to note that it's clear we have excellent taste in hobbies. Thanks Dale Jr., keep it classy.