NASCAR Legend Reveals Dale Earnhardt’s Hesitation to Hand Dale Jr. His Debut After Charlotte’s Fatal Tragedy

Can you imagine a different driver other than Dale Jr. driving the #8 DEI car in NASCAR? Not likely, right? Well, it turns out this could’ve been a possibility, as Dale Earnhardt was hesitant about giving Jr. his first breakthrough in the Busch Series. He had his reasons for it, one of the big ones being Dale Jr.’s carefree attitude and his wrecking the race cars on multiple occasions.

However, the team’s then-crew chief at the time, Tony Eury Sr., saw immense potential in young Dale Jr. and made his case against the Intimidator. The veteran crew chief turned the page on time in recalling the meeting he had with Dale Earnhardt that saved Jr.’s racing career.

Dale Earnhardt wasn’t sure about letting Jr. lead the charge of his team

Before Dale Jr. could make history in the Cup Series by driving the iconic #8 car, he needed to prove himself in the lower series. Being the son of the great Dale Earnhardt wasn’t enough; his father wanted to field a driver in the Busch Series that could help the team win championships. But Jr.’s initial runs in the #31 Chevy were far from convincing in 1996.

The young driver in his first four starts struggled to stay on the lead lap and often finished at the tail end of the finishing results. The tipping point came when Dale Earnhardt Jr. wrecked the race car at Charlotte during the qualifying rounds. This was the moment when Dale Sr. lost his cool and had some strong words with his son at the race shop.

It was a tough phase for Dale Sr., and he wasn’t sure about giving Jr. a shot at a full-time ride in the coming year. However, he didn’t hastily make any decisions and took this up with his crew chief, Eury Sr., who stuck by Jr. despite the odds stacked against him. Recalling the meeting he had with the intimidator, he said, “I think the whole time his plan was he was going to put you in that car. When y’all went to Charlotte and y’all wrecked that car that ki–ed that guy. I’m telling you, he was so disappointed.”

“He says, What do you think about putting Dale Jr. in this car? And I said, Dale you spent money on Jeff Green; you spent money on Steve Park; why don’t you spend your money on your own kid? He brings that Charlotte deal up; he’s like they don’t want to do this. I said, Dale, they are kids; put him in it. I said we’ll know in a year,” Eury Sr. added.

Fortunately, Dale Sr. trusted his crew chief’s words and decided to field Dale Jr. in the #3 car for the 1998 season. Although Jr. had a few hiccups in the first two races, he went on to clinch his first NASCAR championship. He even repeated the feat in the 1999 season before moving up to the Cup level. But the back-to-back championships weren’t something Jr. had on his bingo card.

Dale Jr. was looking to survive his first season in the Xfinity Series

Nerves, second thoughts, and lack of confidence are something that every young race car driver experiences, and Dale Jr. was no different. Before he took on the command of the #3 Chevy car, his sole objective in 1998 was to wreck and maybe win a race. He didn’t prepare to compete for the championship. After wins at Texas and Dover, things started to clear out, but looking back at the two seasons, Jr. still finds it hard that he managed to win back-to-back titles with the team.

“I didn’t have that confidence in myself; I certainly didn’t have it before Daytona. To tell me, hey man, if you don’t screw it up, we can win a championship. I’m like, I just want to make it; I just wanna damn win a race. I always thought if you won one race, you could be a driver at least the rest of your life. I look back on it now, and I have a hard time believing it happened,” Dale Jr. said on his podcast DJD.

Looking back now, it feels like everything did work out well for Dale Jr. and the DEI team. Although he had doubts about his championship mentality, he soon came to realize his potential. And that one meeting that Tony Eury Sr. had with Dale Earnhardt turned out to be rewarding for NASCAR and the race fans.