Dale Earnhardt Jr. trying to shape up

Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he's feeling better as he watches his diet and tries to exercise more. (Getty Images)

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is doing his best to get in better physical shape, which he believes will help his performance behind the wheel.

Earnhardt says he's been concentrating on his diet and excercise more than he has during his professional life but it isn't easy.

“I don't know if I'm in much better shape, you know," said Earnhardt Jr. "I've been trying to get in better shape, but it's not easy. I don't think I'm in bad shape. It's just real hard. It takes more work than I am accustomed to doing on that front, just on that front in general. ...

"I'm always learning how to improve my diet. I'm curious and I ask questions about that to people, and change what I hear I need to change, or what I think I need to change. I think that accompanied with a couple of other things improves endurance, and improves your overall well being."

Earnhardt listed several examples of how he believes an improved health plan will be beneficial.

"How you are feeling in the car. How you deal mentally when you are kind of physically taxed. When you get tired physically, you can get lazy mentally," he said. "So I think that being in a little bit better shape. Being in a little bit better conditioning has helped me quite a bit because some of those races are really tough. The Sonoma race, the races at Bristol, those are really tough races. Think I need get tougher to be able to do what I need to do out there.”

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