-This is a photo of you that I just wanted to show
just because I just -- I just want to hear the story.
What is this? This is --
[ Laughter ]
-Ugh.
That's me trying to look as cool as I possibly could.
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
You're doing a great job.
-It's like me and Jay-Z hang out every day.
-Yeah.
So you and Jay-Z are just cruising around in a Ferrari?
What are you doing?
-Yeah, so I -- I got asked to be in his video.
"Show Me What You Got" was the video.
And I was racing in New Hampshire.
So I run -- I run this race, and they're like,
"You got to get on this plane as soon as the race is over with."
So I've been up all day, I run a race, I get on this plane,
we fly all the way to Monaco.
And I can't sleep.
You know, you're going to be in this Jay-Z video.
Who can sleep, right?
So I'm on this plane for eight hours --
-Why couldn't you just shoot the video in New Hampshire?
-It's just Jay-Z.
Jay-Z goes to Monaco... -Exactly.
[ Laughter ] -...to shoot videos.
And so, you know, I'm up all -- the whole flight.
We get off the plane.
We're walking up this hill,
and there's Jay-Z sitting on the side of the street.
Just sort of chilling on his phone.
And I'm like -- I'm walking up, I'm going to introduce myself.
And I walk up and he's -- -Was he nice?
-He's really nice.
You know, just, "Hey, glad you're here.
Thanks for coming all this way."
I'm like, "This is Monaco, and I'm gonna be in a Jay-Z video.
This was a very easy decision." [ Laughter ]
And right as I'm telling him that, Beyoncé walks up.
And so I got to meet them both, like,
right as soon as I got out of the airport.
We had a great time shooting the video.
Drank espresso all day because I had been up forever
and, you know, had run this race.
-Yeah, of course.
-We go to dinner that night -- this was the best part.
We go to dinner in this restaurant,
and I'm sitting at the table.
There was only a couple of us at the table.
And we were supposed to have dinner with --
so excited, you know?
And I'm waiting on them to get to the table,
and the ceiling in this restaurant opens up
and you can see the stars and the moon.
And I'm, like, "Man, this is a really cool restaurant."
And while I'm looking up, Jay-Z and Beyoncé come and sit down
and then the ceiling closed.
They open the ceiling for them.
[ Laughter ]
To come in and sit down.
-What? -Yes!
-They walk in and --
-No, they open the ceiling, then they walked in,
and then they sit down and the ceiling closed.
And I was like --
-Did they descend from the heavens?
[ Laughter ]
Heading out to dinner.
Is that how they travel?
I've never gone out to dinner with Jay-Z and Beyoncé.
-That set the tone for that dinner, I'll tell you.
-God, yes.
-We drank a lot of Heinekens and had a great time.
-Yeah, had a good time.
I think it's a rad -- a rad video, a rad photo, as well.
Let's talk about -- last year, you retired from racing.
-Yeah. -Okay.
Now what's the new chapter?
-I'm going to go into the broadcast booth.
So I get to stay at the racetrack
and talk about what I love, which is racing.
And tell fans -- you know, just react to what I'm seeing.
And hopefully I'm good at it.
And hopefully I can do it for a very long time.
-Oh, I think you are gonna be great at it.
But what is this first --
-The first weekend is this weekend in Chicago on Sunday.
-Are you nervous? -Oh, yeah.
I mean, I had a background in racing.
Grew up in a racing family.
-You think? Yeah. Ah, yeah.
[ Laughter ]
-Driving cars was easy.
But this career, I don't have a background in broadcasting.
I have nothing -- nothing really to lean on.
But they say just go in there and be yourself and have fun.
-I think it's gonna be fantastic
because, you know, we saw A-Rod go into the commentary booth.
-Right.
-And I go, "We'll see how that's gonna be."
And it was awesome. -Yeah.
-Because he knows the game.
-And Tony Romo, same thing.
-They know exactly -- -Yeah.
-And they go, "Dale, what'd you think?"
Because you know stuff.
-They are putting pressure on me.
That's the way I look at it.
-Yeah, I guess it's extra pressure.
-They're cranking the pressure now.
I'm excited.
We got an exciting season developing.
And we're going in this weekend
to do the first broadcast for NBC.
We'll broadcast the rest of the season.
We'll crown our champion in Homestead in 21 weeks.
And it's gonna be a blast.
-I think you're gonna crush it as an analyst.
And you're gonna crush it as a dad.
Congratulations, buddy.
-Thanks. Yes, sir. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Always good to see you, pal.
Check out Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s debut as a NASCAR analyst
July 1st, this weekend, on NBCSN!