Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974), also called "Dale Jr." or "Junior," is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, broadcaster for Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports, and podcaster. He is a third-generation driver, meaning his family has been involved in racing for three generations. He is the son of the late seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Dale Earnhardt, and is related to many former and current NASCAR drivers. After retiring from full-time racing following the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series season, he has participated in some NASCAR Xfinity Series and CARS Late Model Stock Tour races. He drives for JR Motorsports, a team he helped found and co-owns, which is named after him.
In 2018, he became a color commentator for NASCAR on NBC after retiring from full-time driving. When his contract with NBC ended after the 2023 season, he joined Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports as part of NASCAR’s new television coverage, which began in 2025.
From 1999 to 2007, Earnhardt Jr. drove the No. 8 Budweiser-sponsored Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI), his father’s team in the NASCAR Cup Series. In 2008, he joined Hendrick Motorsports to drive their No. 88 car. He stayed with Hendrick Motorsports until his final full-time season in 2017. Earnhardt Jr. has 26 wins in the Cup Series, placing him tied with Fred Lorenzen for 32nd in NASCAR history as of May 2024. He is a two-time champion of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, which was called the Busch Series when he won in 1998 and 1999.
His success at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway earned him the nickname "the Pied Piper." He won the Daytona 500 in 2004 and 2014. From 2003 to 2017, he received NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver Award for 15 consecutive years.
Early life and racing career
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was born and raised in Kannapolis, North Carolina, as the son of Brenda Lorraine Jackson and Dale Earnhardt. His maternal grandfather, Robert Gee Sr., worked as a NASCAR car builder. He has an older sister named Kelley, an older half-brother named Kerry from his father’s first marriage, and a younger half-sister named Taylor Earnhardt-Putnam from his father’s third marriage. He has German ancestry. His parents divorced shortly after he was born, and he and Kelley lived with Brenda until their home was destroyed in a fire when he was six years old. Because Brenda had no financial support after the fire, she gave up custody of the children to Dale Earnhardt Sr. before he married Teresa Houston. During his childhood, Kelley cared for him while their father and stepmother were busy with racing. At age twelve, he was sent to Oak Ridge Military Academy. Three weeks later, Kelley left high school to join him. He considered staying at Oak Ridge for his senior year but instead attended Mooresville High School, from which he graduated in 1992.
Earnhardt Jr. attended a high-performance driving school taught by Andy Hillenburg and began his racing career at age seventeen with his father, competing in the Street Stock division at Concord, North Carolina’s Motorsport Park. His first race car was a 1979 Monte Carlo that he co-owned with Kerry. By age nineteen, after two seasons in the Street Stock Division, Earnhardt Jr. had improved his driving skills enough to join the Late Model Stock Car Division. He raced on short tracks in North and South Carolina, driving a No. 3 Buick. He focused most of his efforts at Myrtle Beach Speedway in South Carolina and East Carolina Motor Speedway in Robersonville, North Carolina, where he earned the pole for the Greenville Merchants 300 on October 28, 1994. There, he learned about car setup and preparation while racing against his siblings. He worked as a mechanic at his father’s dealership while attending Mitchell Community College to earn an associate degree in automotive technology.
Between 1996 and 1997, Earnhardt Jr. raced nine Busch Series races for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Ed Whitaker. In 1998, he raced full-time for his father’s team in the Busch Series. He started the season with a crash after contact with Dick Trickle and Buckshot Jones at Daytona, the same weekend his father won the Daytona 500 for the first and only time. Earnhardt won the NASCAR Busch Series Championships in 1998 and 1999, narrowly beating Matt Kenseth. In 1998, he made his first start in the Winston Cup Series at the exhibition race in Japan. In 1999, he raced five Winston Cup races in the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet for DEI, with his best finish being tenth place at Richmond.
The 2000 season marked Earnhardt’s breakthrough in the Winston Cup Series. He competed for the Raybestos NASCAR Rookie of the Year Award, with Matt Kenseth as his main competitor. Kenseth finished ahead of Earnhardt in the season-opening Daytona 500. Earnhardt won his first race, the DirecTV 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, breaking his father’s record for the fewest starts needed to win a race in NASCAR’s modern era. He also won at Richmond International Raceway and became the first rookie to win The Winston.
In 2000, Earnhardt participated in a Winston Cup milestone by racing with his father and half-brother Kerry at the Pepsi 400 in Michigan. This was only the second time a father had raced against two sons, following Lee Petty and his sons Richard and Maurice.
Earnhardt ended the 2000 season with two wins, three top-fives, five top-tens, and two poles.
The 2001 season began with the Daytona 500. On the final lap, Earnhardt Jr. and his teammate Michael Waltrip competed for the win, with Waltrip finishing first. Behind them, Earnhardt Sr. crashed into the wall after contact with Sterling Marlin. Earnhardt Sr. died later that day from a basilar skull fracture. Many fans blamed Marlin for the crash, but investigations cleared him of involvement. Earnhardt Jr. raced the next weekend at Rockingham but finished 43rd after a crash similar to his father’s.
At the Pepsi 400, Earnhardt Jr. led 115 laps and won the race. He later won the MBNA Cal Ripken Jr. 400 at Dover, the first Winston Cup race after the September 11 attacks. He held an American flag during his victory lap. In October, he won the EA Sports 500 at Talladega, earning a $1 million bonus. However, he lost 25 points after his car failed inspection. DEI won three of the four restrictor plate races in 2001. Earnhardt finished the season eighth in the points standings with three wins, nine top-fives, fifteen top-tens, and two poles.
In 2002, Earnhardt Jr. had a difficult season after suffering a concussion in April. He struggled in the races following the injury but later won both Talladega races, earning two Bud Pole Awards. He finished 11th in the points standings with eleven top-fives and sixteen top-tens.
In 2003, Earnhardt Jr. became a serious title contender. He won a record fourth consecutive race at Talladega after a 27-car crash on the fourth lap. His win was controversial because he appeared to drive below the yellow line, but NASCAR ruled it a clean pass. He also won at Phoenix, finishing third in the points standings with thirteen top-fives and 21 top-tens. He won the NMPA Most Popular Driver award for the first time.
In 2004, Earnhardt won the Daytona 500, six years after his father’s only victory in the race. He came close to winning all of Speedweeks, also winning the Gatorade Duel and the Busch Series race but finishing second in the Budweiser Shootout to Dale Jarrett. On July 18, during the summer off
Team ownership
In 2003, Earnhardt and his stepmother, Teresa, created Chance 2 Motorsports as a separate company from DEI. The company employed Martin Truex Jr. to drive the No. 8 car during the 2004 and 2005 Busch Series seasons. Truex won the championship in both years and earned twelve race victories for the team. Earnhardt also won four races for the team, three of which occurred in 2003. The company faced financial problems and closed in 2006. After that, Truex, Earnhardt, and the No. 8 car returned to DEI.
Earnhardt is a co-owner of JR Motorsports with his older sister, Kelley Earnhardt Miller, who is part of a NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Series team. In 2014, the team won its first NASCAR national championship when Chase Elliott drove the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts car to victory in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. In 2015, JR Motorsports started a part-time team in the Truck Series. Cole Custer drove the No. 00 Haas Automation Chevrolet Silverado in ten races. Kasey Kahne also drove part-time in the Truck Series, with Custer winning at Gateway Motorsports Park and Kahne winning at Charlotte. JR Motorsports also has a successful regional late model program. Josh Berry won the 2012 Motor Mile Championship in the Whelen All-American series and later earned another track championship at Hickory Motor Speedway.
Crew chief
In June 2025, Earnhardt became the interim crew chief for JR Motorsports driver Connor Zilisch during the Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway. This happened after the team's regular crew chief, Mardy Lindley, was suspended for one race. Zilisch won the race, which was Earnhardt's first win as a crew chief and his first time in that role.
Broadcasting career
In 2016, Earnhardt worked as a guest analyst for NASCAR Cup and Xfinity race broadcasts on Fox and NBC.
In 2018, Earnhardt became a color commentator for the NASCAR on NBC broadcasting team. His first appearance on NBCSN’s NASCAR America was on March 12, 2018, where he joined Leigh Diffey, Jeff Burton, and his former crew chief, Steve Letarte. During his first race broadcast at the 2018 Overton’s 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, Earnhardt introduced his famous phrase: “Slide job!” when Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson competed for the lead on the final lap.
On February 29, 2024, The Athletic reported that Earnhardt Jr.’s contract with NASCAR on NBC ended after the 2023 season. It was expected that he would leave NBC for Amazon and TNT’s new NASCAR coverage starting in 2025.
On May 7, 2024, it was officially announced that Earnhardt would join the broadcast teams of Amazon Prime Video and TNT beginning in 2025, likely continuing as a color commentator. He will also take part in a Bleacher Report content series created in partnership with his Dirty Mo Media production company.
Business interests
Dale Earnhardt owns Hammerhead Entertainment, a company that makes and produces television shows. One of these shows, Back in the Day, was broadcast on SPEED. Hammerhead also produced Shifting Gears, a program on ESPN2 that told the story of Earnhardt's 2008 decision to switch teams.
Earnhardt worked with a group of investors to build Alabama Motorsports Park, a race track named Dale Earnhardt Jr. Speedway. The track was planned to be near Mobile, Alabama, and would include stock car racing, kart racing, and a road course. This project would have connected with Earnhardt's partial ownership of Paducah International Raceway.
As of 2013, Earnhardt had his own line of eyeglass frames, made in partnership with NY Eye Inc. In August 2012, he started a business selling cars, opening Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Buick-GMC-Cadillac in Tallahassee, Florida. These stores were operated in partnership with car owner Rick Hendrick.
Earnhardt co-owns the Whiskey River Beer and Wings restaurants in Charlotte, North Carolina, and at the Charlotte Airport. He also co-owns FilterTime, a service that delivers air filters to homes, along with former NASCAR driver Blake Koch.
Earnhardt has been a sim racer for many years. In November 2020, he became an executive director at iRacing and joined its management committee.
On January 9, 2023, a group made up of Earnhardt's DEJ Management, Jeff Burton Autosports, Inc., Kevin Harvick Incorporated, and Trackhouse Racing Team bought the CARS Tour.
In popular media
He appeared in a 2003 video called Playboy: Celebrity Photographers, where he took pictures of The Dahm Triplets. He was in the 2006 movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. In the film, he asked Ricky Bobby (played by Will Ferrell) for an autograph and told him, "Don't tell any of the other drivers." A scene removed from the movie's DVD shows him calling Ricky a "dirty liar" and asking for money he owed. His No. 8 car was in the movie Herbie: Fully Loaded, where Herbie passed him during the final race. The car's image and voice were used in the first Cars movie from Disney/Pixar. His No. 88 car appeared in the 2011 movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon as the vehicle form of Roadbuster, one of three NASCAR cars with armor and guns called the "Wreckers" (the other two were based on the No. 42 and No. 48 cars driven by Juan Pablo Montoya and Jimmie Johnson). These Wrecker versions appeared during the opening laps of the 2011 Daytona 500, where Earnhardt crashed on lap 203 after colliding with Ryan Newman. Josh Duhamel, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and Michael Bay were also grand marshals for that race.
He hosted a show called Back in the Day, which reviewed races from the 1960s and 1970s with trivia. The show began on the Speed Channel on February 6, 2007. He also appeared in an episode of Yes, Dear and two episodes of MTV Cribs (one in 2001 and another in 2009, which featured a Western town he built). His company, Hammerhead Entertainment, helped create a DirecTV special called Fast Lane For Fun, which included footage of his Whisky River. In 2010, he appeared in an episode of Shaq Vs., racing against Shaquille O'Neal. In 2013, he appeared on Fast N' Loud, asking Richard Rawlings to build a custom car for a road trip. He has a home renovation show for the DIY Network called Renovation Realities: Dale Jr. and Amy. He also voiced Chip Racerson Jr. in an episode of Teen Titans Go! titled "Teen Titans Vroom!" In 2020, he hosted Lost Speedways, a documentary series about abandoned racetracks.
His voice was in the video game Scarface: The World is Yours. He also voiced himself in Disney/Pixar's Cars as a No. 8 car named "Junior," painted like his real car and featuring the DEI logo. Budweiser logos were removed to keep the game's rating "G." His voice was used for a character named Chase Davis in an episode of Handy Manny, where Chase helps Manny compete in a race. He also played himself in an episode of The Cleveland Show titled The Hangover: Part Tubbs.
Until 2015, the band Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. was named after him. He is a fan of the Maryland band The Dangerous Summer and helped produce their music video for "Ghosts."
He has appeared in music videos, including:
– "Show Me What You Got" by Jay-Z (with Danica Patrick)
– "Anti-Pop" by Matthew Good Band
– "Steve McQueen" by Sheryl Crow
– "Rough and Ready" by Trace Adkins
– "The Road I'm On" by 3 Doors Down (with Tony Stewart)
– "Right on Time" by O.A.R.
– "Rockstar" by Nickelback
– "Warrior" by Kid Rock
– "Back in the Saddle" by Luke Combs (with Richard Petty)
He hosted a radio show on Sirius XM Sports Nation called Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Unrestricted.
Starting in 2013, his company Hammerhead Entertainment and his podcast network Dirty Mo Radio began producing The Dale Jr. Download, a weekly podcast summarizing race weekends. Taylor Zarzour and Mike Davis hosted until 2016. In 2017, Dale Jr. and Tyler Overstreet took over hosting, though Davis occasionally returned. In 2018, edited versions of the podcast aired on NBCSN, and later on NBC's Peacock streaming service in 2022.
He appeared on the covers of two NASCAR-themed video games: NASCAR Thunder 2003 and NASCAR The Game: Inside Line (2012).
He has been a member and supporter of iRacing for many years. In 2020, he joined iRacing's parent company as executive director. In 2022, the trophy for the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series was renamed in his honor.
Politics
In 2004, Dale Earnhardt talked to Mike Wallace on the TV show 60 Minutes. He said he was a Republican and supported George W. Bush. Even though he was a Republican, he took his team to see the movie Fahrenheit 9/11 that year. He explained, "I like hearing both sides of the argument. I thought the movie was well done. My father and I are Republicans, and I did not leave thinking I would stop voting for Bush. I just wanted to enjoy the movie."
Earnhardt has always opposed the modern use of the Confederate flag at NASCAR events. In his 2001 book Driver #8, he wrote about being asked about the flag during a question-and-answer session at Richmond International Raceway the year before. He said, "I think it means something different to me than it does to you." He also said he did not support fans who displayed the flag, explaining, "It never really was me." In 2006, Earnhardt told Yahoo! Sports reporter Dan Wetzel, "We live in a country where people can speak freely. I do not agree with everything everyone does. I cannot control what others choose to do." After the 2015 Charleston church shooting, Earnhardt told reporters, "I think the flag is offensive to many people. It does not help anyone. It should be in history books and that is all."
In January 2009, Earnhardt said he was excited about Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration. He added, "I wish I could have been there. I would love to meet him. That would be a great honor."
In April 2012, Earnhardt became a partner with the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. He spoke to delegates at the 2012 Democratic National Convention at Charlotte Motor Speedway on behalf of the group. In 2014, he recorded a video for America’s Power to encourage people to vote in U.S. elections.
In May 2012, Earnhardt criticized an amendment to a defense bill that would stop the military from funding sponsorships in professional sports. He specifically mentioned Republican Representative Jack Kingston of Georgia.
In January 2017, Earnhardt said his family moved to America from Germany in the 1770s to escape religious persecution. He said, "America was created by immigrants." In August 2017, he spoke out against hatred, bigotry, and racism after attacks in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Barcelona, Spain. In September 2017, after protests about the U.S. national anthem gained attention, Earnhardt supported peaceful protesters. He shared a quote from former president John F. Kennedy on Twitter: "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
Personal life
Earnhardt is a fan of the Washington Commanders and has received updates about their game scores during races. "During the race season, if I'm under caution, I receive statistics and numbers over the radio," Earnhardt said. "I need to know what is happening with the Commanders. I cannot focus on my race if I do not know the results. My fans tell me that if I lose, it affects their week. But if the Commanders lose, it affects my week." Earnhardt once wanted to play football for Washington but said he "wasn't built" for it. "I was 5 feet 3 inches tall when I got my driver's license at age 16," he said, "so I would not have been a strong football player." He currently owns a Learjet 60 private jet with the tail number N8JR.
Earnhardt also owns a collection of wrecked race cars on a property in North Carolina. Some of the most notable cars include Juan Pablo Montoya's 2012 Daytona 500 car that crashed into a jet dryer, David Gilliland's 2014 5-hour Energy 400 car that was destroyed in a collision with the track wall, and Earnhardt's own 2014 Duck Commander 500 car that was damaged when a tire was cut by wet infield grass on lap 12.
On June 17, 2015, Earnhardt announced his engagement to his long-term girlfriend, Amy Reimann. After winning his 14th Most Popular Driver Award in 2016, he shared that their wedding would take place on New Year's Eve. They married at Richard Childress's Childress Vineyards in Lexington, North Carolina.
In March 2016, Earnhardt stated he planned to donate his brain for concussion research after his death.
In October 2017, Earnhardt revealed that he and his wife were expecting their first child. Their daughter, Isla Rose Earnhardt, was born on April 30, 2018. In March 2020, Earnhardt announced they were expecting their second child. Their second child, Nicole Loraine Earnhardt, was born on October 12, 2020.
On April 22, 2019, Brenda Jackson, Earnhardt's mother, passed away at age 65 after a long battle with cancer. She worked as an accounting specialist for JR Motorsports since 2004.
Earnhardt supports the Make-A-Wish Foundation and, as of March 2018, had helped grant over 250 wishes. He also started The Dale JR. Foundation, a charity that helps underprivileged individuals, especially young people.
On August 15, 2019, a Cessna Citation Latitude private jet carrying Earnhardt, his wife Amy, daughter Isla Rose, and dog Gus had a rough landing at Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and caught fire. No one was seriously hurt. Earnhardt shared on Twitter about a week later that he still planned to compete in the Xfinity Series race at Darlington the following week, despite having bruises and swelling in his lower back. He finished fifth in the Darlington race after recovering and confirmed before the event that he felt well and had no risk of harm.
Earnhardt has a fear of jewelry called kosmemophobia.
Motorsports career results
( key ) ( Bold: Pole position earned through qualifying time. Italics: Pole position determined by points rankings or practice time. : Most laps led by a driver. *: All laps led by a driver. )
The season is still ongoing. Drivers are not eligible to earn points in this series.
( key ) ( Bold: Pole position. *: Most laps led by a driver. )