NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. has revealed to Daily Mail TV he wants Hollywood star Matt Damon to portray him in a movie about his life.
Earnhardt, 44, will have the chance to convince the 48-year-old actor when he appears with Damon at the Indy 500 car race on Sunday, May 26.
Damon, who portrays car designer Carroll Shelby in the upcoming movie 'Ford v Ferrari' has been named the race's honorary starter while Earnhardt is the pace car driver to lead the 33 competitors in warm-up laps.
Earnhardt, who will also act as an NBC commentator for the event, said: 'I'd like Matt Damon to play me in a movie. I think the film should be named 'Racing To The Finish', the name of my autobiography.
'Being the pace driver is a badge of honor that I never thought I'd be considered for. Looking in the mirror is going to be intimidating, like you're a rabbit being chased by a pack of dogs.'
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his wife Amy with their baby daughter Isla, then four-months-old, in Richmond, Virginia at Richmond Raceway on September 21, 2018
NASCAR champion Daily Earnhardt Jr. (left) wants actor Matt Damon (right) to play him in a movie about his life. The pair will appear at the Indianapolis 500 race event on Sunday, May 26
Earnhardt, of Mooresville, North Carolina, retired from full-time NASCAR racing in 2017 after twice winning the Daytona 500, 26 wins in the Sprint Cup series and nine exhibition races.
Amassing a $400 million fortune, he says his proudest achievement was becoming a father for the first time when his wife Amy, 37, gave birth to daughter Isla on April 30, 2018.
And Earnhardt confided to Daily Mail TV he hopes Isla will get a sibling in the future.
But he also revealed starting a family with Amy might never have happened when she gave him an ultimatum before they were married - either he quit his 30-a-day cigarette addiction or she would ditch him.
Earnhardt said: 'I smoked a pack and a half a day for 15 years. I was embarrassed and ashamed.
'I hid it from the public, you worry what your fans will think. I was an athlete and I should be portraying that I took my job and my health seriously. It had complete control over me.'
He said his father NASCAR Hall of Fame member Dale Earnhardt Sr. hated that he smoked.
Earnhardt said: 'It was extremely disappointing for him. I never was around him with a cigarette in my hand. But he would come over and see an ashtray full of cigarette butts. He disapproved of it. I was upset he was upset but it didn't get me to quit.'
Dale Earnhardt Jr. retired from full-time NASCAR racing in 2017 after twice winning the Daytona 500, 26 wins in the Sprint Cup series and nine exhibition races
Earnhardt explained his father's disapproval of his habit was nothing compared to that of Amy Reimann's, his wife-to-be who he began dating in 2009.
The couple first met in 2008 when interior designer Amy helped him with a home he was building on his 290-acre estate in Mooresville.
He said: 'Amy was the most-effective at getting me to quit. She changed my life and has made me mature as a person.
'When we first met, she was helping me with my home. I thought she was beautiful. But she was in the middle of a divorce so I waited before asking her on a date.
'When she told me my smoking was a deal breaker I knew I had to get serious this time about stopping.
'Hearing she may not be able to take next steps with me in our relationship I had to make more of an effort to stop. That really drove the nail in the coffin for me. I really buckled down.
'It took me four times to quit. I tried reading books, hypnotism - you name it, I tried it. The quitting journey is a process. I tried so many things and when I failed you lose hope for the next try.
'But I've been a non-smoker for over six years and it's the best decision that I made for myself.'
Amy Ernhardt (left) and husband Dale Earnhardt Jr. (right) celebrate the first birthday in April 2019 of their daughter Isla at their home in Mooresville, North Carolina
Dale Earnhardt Jr. kisses wife Amy before the start of a race at Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Florida, on July 1, 2017. He semi-retired at the end of that year
Earnhardt agreed to appear in a new advertising campaign for Nicorette's Coated Ice Mint Lozenges because of his own struggles with smoking.
He said: 'Nicorette comes up a couple months ago, 'we got a new product'. I didn't have a tool like this in the toolbox when I was trying to quit. It would have made the journey a whole lot shorter.'
Amy and Earnhardt were engaged on June 17, 2015 but Earnhardt admits they needed couples therapy to help their relationship.
Earnhardt said: 'Typically around women I'm really shy but Amy certainly changed that a lot and it was just easy to be myself. That hurt and helped at times.
'I'm always super honest, so she kind of had to get used to that honesty and that bluntness that I have.
'We got to a point where she's like, 'Man, we've got to see somebody. You need some help. I can't get through to you.' Eventually we went to see Jane, a relationship counselor.
'I said, 'Okay, you know, I'll listen and I'll make these adjustments and see how it goes and we just kept working on it from there.'
Earnhardt and Amy were married on December 31, 2016 in Lexington, North Carolina at Childress Vineyards, owned by Earnhardt's friend former NASCAR driver Richard Childress.
Earnhardt said, 'When we got married the only two people that mattered to me were my dentist and Jane being at the wedding because Jane is the reason why the wedding happened in the first place.'
Dale Earnhardt Jr. feeds daughter Isla, then four-months-old, on August 9, 2108. He said: 'I'm trying not to be that parent that's hovering and smothering but I love her so much'
Dale Earnhardt Jr. holds his beaming daughter Isla, then six months, in this October 29, 2018 photo. He said: 'If I can have another child that would be amazing. I want to be a great dad'
The shrewd businessman's empire ranges from the race team he co-owns JR Motorsports, a TV production company Hammerhead Entertainment, his North Carolina chain of Whiskey River Beer and Wings restaurants, a car dealership in Florida and an air conditioner filter company.
But pride of place in his achievements is his daughter
