Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Dancing with the Stars? ‘Never going to happen’

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has more free time now that he won’t be racing every week, but he won’t be using it to go after the Mirror Ball Trophy.

There’s an all athlete season (albeit a shortened one) of Dancing with the Stars coming up in the spring. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is now retired from full-time competition and while he’s slated to start as a broadcaster with NBC next season, his commitments won’t start until the summer. Looks like a match made in heaven since Junior would definitely be a huge ratings draw.

There’s just one problem with this particular rumor: Dale Jr. does not want to dance.

He made that clear when talking to the media during the Appreci88ion charity event during NASCAR awards week in Las Vegas, as reported by NASCAR.com.

"“That’s never going to happen. “I promise you. There’s nothing in this world that would be able to get me out on the dance floor.”"

Earnhardt would be following in the footsteps of other racers, some of whom have fared quite well on Dancing with the Stars. Open-wheel star Helio Castroneves won the Mirror Ball Trophy back in season 5 dancing with Julianne Hough, while James Hinchcliffe was the season 23 runner-up. On top of that, since Junior Nation would turn out in droves to vote, he’d be all but assured of sticking around for a few weeks even if he was horrible.

That doesn’t seem to matter much to Earnhardt Jr., who even said that even if the effort was for charity, he’d simply kick in his own money to avoid gracing the ballroom floor.

"“I would match it just to stay off the dance floor. I’d be willing to do a lot of things. That’s not one of them, I can promise you.”"

Many stars issue denials before eventually turning up on Dancing with the Stars, but Junior gave perhaps the most resounding “no” possible. Sorry, race fans.