It was another one of "those" questions. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was being asked about his place in the sport, and a reporter wondered if a driver had to win races to be considered a central figure in NASCAR.
"Apparently not," Earnhardt Jr. blurted out as reporters erupted in laughter, the sport's most popular driver poking fun at himself but not necessarily enjoying it.
I don't pretend to understand what it's like being Dale Earnhardt Jr. And I'm not sure I want to.
But when Earnhardt Jr. speaks, it's worth a listen. If you listen carefully, he offers a glimpse into his innermost thoughts.
Buried behind his shaggy, unkempt hair and red mountain-man beard on Thursday were blue eyes that clearly still burn with a deep passion for the sport.
It became clear that Earnhardt Jr. believes his legacy will be about more than just what he does on the racetrack. And despite his desire to win, he's OK with that.
Earnhardt Jr. gets accused of all sorts of things: Lacking motivation to do what it takes to win (yet he said Thursday he plans on racing well into his 40s), not possessing the talent of his late father (yet he's won 18 races, made the Chase three times and had a shot at the Cup title in 2004) and most of all, being a disappointment.
In fact, Earnhardt Jr. can't seem to escape the "disappointment" label wherever he goes. Whether it's applied to his one-win tenure at Hendrick Motorsports or his entire career, Earnhardt Jr. is constantly and repeatedly asked about his failures rather than his successes.
And he's OK with that. Life in the spotlight can be harsh, and sometimes it burns. He'll wince in the glare, but always takes his lumps - even if it's obvious he looks forward to the day when it ends.
It's tough to feel sorry for a gazillionaire racecar driver who seems to have it all, but Earnhardt Jr. does elicit some sympathy. Perhaps because he's remained so real through it all, it's easy to see him as a person with flaws and hardships just like the rest of us.
He conducts himself through all this the best way he knows how, staying humble while placing an emphasis on respect.
"You don't get mulligans to be an asshole," he said.
But his fans are tired of feeling sorry for him. They want to be able to share in his joy again, when he drives into victory lane and hoists his arms and sprays champagne like a dude just having a good time with his buddies.
Fiercely loyal, they won't give up on their man. But like him, they've been discouraged.
"I've had a pretty good rough patch," he said, marking an early candidate for Understatement of the Year.
But he believes. If he drives until he's 50, he said, "I've probably got a pretty good chance of putting together another season like I had in 2004 sometime in that 15-year span."
When it's over and the constant pressure and scrutiny disappears, he added, there will be enough statistics on paper to satisfy most people.
He acknowledged, though, that his greatest legacy may come from other areas. During the days when he appeared in Rolling Stone and was featured on MTV's "Cribs," Earnhardt Jr. said people constantly told him he was bringing the sport into the mainstream.
And you know what? He's OK with that, too.
"I really took that as a compliment," he said. "Being one of the few drivers who could do that at the time, I was really proud of that fact. I would like to think that I've put this sport in front of a lot of people that have never seen it before."
His legacy may not even be finished when he's done driving, if he has his way. Earnhardt Jr. revealed Thursday he's dreamed of joining Robin Pemberton and Mike Helton in NASCAR's competition department.
When he gets out of the car, he still wants to be involved with racing.
So when it comes down to it, Earnhardt Jr. may be remembered as much for what he did off the track as on it. And despite everything that's happened, he's OK with that.
"I'm in it to win races and when I'm done, I want everybody to appreciate what I did on the racetrack," he said. "But hopefully I can do even bigger things aside from that."