Such a sweet memory.
This past weekend, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won big as a team owner, as his team, JR Motorsports, secured the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. His driver Justin Allgaier finished 7th in the season finale, giving him enough points to secure his second career series title and the fifth driver’s championship overall for JR Motorsports.
Of course, Jr. and his family were in attendance at the race, and they were rightfully ready to celebrate after the race finished… Jr. got some criticism for how he shotgunned his beer in Victory Lane, but hey, he’s a dad now and it’s understandable that he’s a little out of practice, but I digress…
In November of 1998, Jr. won his first-ever career NASCAR Busch Series, now known as the Xfinity Series, championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It was while he was driving the #3 ACDelco Chevrolet for his father’s team, Dale Earnhardt Inc., and it was a very proud moment for the entire Earnhardt family.
And his win as an owner this past weekend was surely a full-circle moment for the Hall of Fame driver, as it’s been 28 years since his first championship win there, and now he’s celebrating as a team owner, just like his dad did for him…
NASCAR shared a previous video of Dale Sr. being interviewed after Dale Jr. won that championship, and he is just as proud as can be, explaining that seeing his son win and accomplished something he’s always wanted to was a “proud” moment.
He added how
“A proud papa, too. You do a lot of things in your career when you’re involved in racing like we’ve been, my dad and the family, and just to grow up in it was pretty awesome and to go out and win races was even better, championships. But to see your son do it, really hits home. You really feel good to see him win races, and he’s able to go out and do things he’s wanted to.
I’m proud of that whole team, Tony Eury and all the guys, they’ve worked hard and I think they’ve really helped Dale Jr. be able to show himself. It really is a team effort, but I surely am proud of that boy of mine.”
Fans in the comments were loving the sentimental interview, and it certainly shows a different side of Dale Sr., and I’m sure glad they pulled this one out of the archive:
“He’s so right. As a parent, seeing your kids accomplish something is way more rewarding than accomplishing it yourself. I think it’s even more nerve-racking because you have no control over the outcome. You can only watch, hope, and know it’s all up to them.”
“If Sr. doesn’t Die, Jr. wins at least 1 championship and has a hell of a lot more wins.”
“Dale Jr. is older than Dale Sr when he passed. Hard to believe.”
“Nothing in the world feels better for a son than to hear his dad say that he is proud of him!”
“Dale would have made an awesome announcer, gone too soon!”
“I hated him on the track. I sure wish he was still here!”
“That had to have meant the world to Jr.”
“True happiness, seeing your kids succeed.”
“Dale Jr., he is so proud of you still to this day!”
“Proud Papa!”
“Man, it would’ve been really neat to see him around to watch his son race longer. Get to see how proud he would’ve been of 26 wins! And for some reason, I don’t know why, I feel like Dale Jr. would’ve won a championship with his father still around.”
“He looks like the cat that swallowed the canary! He can’t stop smiling. You can tell he’s proud!”
Even though we hear a lot about difficult their relationship was a lot of the time, I sure hope Jr. saw this video because even just the smile on his dad’s face shows it all about how much he really loved him.
Oh yeah, and about that shotgunning video…
