But it was Max Verstappen who left him surprised by how much he enjoyed the race.

Max Verstappen ‘surprised’ Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Miami

The Miami Grand Prix was something of a decisive victory for McLaren driver Oscar Piastri — but that didn’t mean fans weren’t treated to a show.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen defied the odds by snagging pole position, and it was a lead he held — if tentatively — into the first corner.

As he barreled into that turn, Verstappen locked up the tyres of his RB21, giving McLaren’s Lando Norris a chance to take a look on his inside. The two drivers made contact, and Norris cut Turn 2, only to drop down to sixth on the grid.

By Lap 11, Oscar Piastri had begun mounting his charge on Verstappen, forcing the reigning World Champion to defend hard against an attack that was finally completed on Lap 14.

Verstappen continued to lose positions, dropping down to fourth at the finish.

Having been invited to Miami by Hard Rock and Red Bull Racing, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. was able to experience that race firsthand.

The son of the great Dale Earnhardt, Junior admitted that his expectations of the event weren’t extremely high — but that he found himself surprised by what he saw.

“I’m a NASCAR fanboy. NASCAR to me will always be the greatest thing in the whole wide world. It always will be. Of course it is; I grew up around it,” Earnhardt explained on his Dale Jr. Download podcast.

“I’m more entertained by the NASCAR product — but I was a bit surprised by how entertained I was by the F1 product, especially when Max [Verstappen] was trying to defend.”

While Earnhardt Jr. noted that the defense didn’t last long against  the quicker McLarens, it was nevertheless exciting to see the pinnacle of open-wheel racing in person.

As part of his overall weekend experience, Earnhardt Jr. was invited to meet Verstappen — but that it left him with “one regret.”

“Maybe I wasted my opportunity of conversation on something frivolous,” he said on his podcast.

“Something he is amazing at. I did want to tell him how much I appreciate him and what he does for sim racing.

“I wanted to tell Max like, ‘Dude, I appreciate everything you do for the sim world, you legitimize it,’”

“Twenty years ago, when I tried to tell my team that sims were cool, they laughed — and now they’re all spending millions of dollars.”