Dale Earnhardt Jr. was a 2000s icon. Of course, he is best known as one of the most popular NASCAR drivers of all time, the son of a racing legend, and in the 2000s during the height of his career, Jr. he was absolutely everywhere. He went to award shows, late night talk shows, and was easily the sports most recognizable drivers, and remains so to this day. He always comes across as very down-to-earth, despite growing up in a very famous family, and it’s easy to see why fans have loved him for decades now.
But it’s not just fans who love Jr. as plenty of musicians do too… and he’s actually appeared in quite a few music videos throughout his career. On his podcast the Dale Jr. Download now, he often talks about his love for all kinds of music, which has long been a passion of his since the time he’s been a professional driver, and even before that.
From country, to rap, to rock, Jr. has been in videos from all kinds of genres, and you can see the full list below:
Matthew Good Band – “Anti-Pop” (2002)
While Dale Jr. has developed some friendships in the country music world, and NASCAR tends to be pretty popular among the country music crowd, Dale Jr. is a well-known fan of rock music. We actually teamed up for a road trip playlist quite few years back, and nearly all of his picks were alt rock and punk. And back in 2002, he was goodfriends with Canadian alt-rock frontman, Matt Good, so they teamed to have a little fun with the music video.
Sheryl Crow – “Steve McQueen” (2002)
Sheryl Crow released “Steve McQueen” as the lead track from her album C’mon, C’mon. The song famously won a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, and the music video was directed by Wayne Isham, known for his work with legendary rock artists.
You see Dale Jr. driving vintage cars around, and he did his own stunt driving, as they paying homage to the legendary “King of Cool” actor, Steve McQueen.
3 Doors Down – “The Road I’m On” (2003)
The song was released in 2003 as part of the band’s multi-platinum second album, Away from the Sun. Jr. became close friends with the late 3 Doors Down frontman Brad Arnold who sadly passed away on February 7th. They met around the year 2000 at a former Charlotte music venue called Tremont Music Hall, and became fast friends.
In “The Road I’m On,” you once again see Jr. racing around town, alongside former champion Tony Stewart, and it’s a beautiful piece of early 2000s history:
O.A.R. – “Right On Time” (2004)
In 2004, Jr. teamed up with American rock band O.A.R. for their “Right On Time” music video. Released in 2004, the song was the second single from their 2003 In Between Now & Then album. The Maryland bands relationship with NASCAR was well documented… O.A.R.’s album cover was featured on Brian Vickers’ Sprint Cup car in the 2006 Chevy Rock and Roll 400, they played the All-Star Race, and have attended a number of other races over the years.
Trace Adkins – “Rough & Ready” (2004)
“Rough & Ready” was written by Blair Mackichan, Brian Gene White and Craig Wiseman, and included as a single on Trace Adkins’ 2003 album, Comin’ On Strong. The music video once again doing what he does best… driving:
Jay Z — “Show Me What You Got” (2006)
Jr. joined former driver Danica Patrick in the video for Jay Z’s song “Show Me What You Got,” which was released as a single from his 2006 comeback album, Kingdom Come. Of course, you see them doing what they do best, driving fast cars:
Nickelback – “Rockstar” (2007)
This is one of my favorites… on an episode of his Dale Jr. Download podcast, Jr. talked about what the experience of filming “Rockstar” for Nickelback was like, seeing as it was in the heyday of his popularity and celebrity, and overall a great time in his career:
“Oh, man! Lots of fun. I still see it… those were the days. That was mid, that was peak Budweiser #8. We’re running well. We were in other music videos, we did 3 Doors Down. We were having a lot of fun. They were big back then.
And the list of other people that were in that video… when we did 3 Doors Down, it was me and [Tony] Stewart, that was fun. But this video was gonna have a lot of other people in it that were [in] pop culture. I got to shoot it right there on my property, pretty easy. It ended up being a popular song.
It was easy, took 15 minutes to shoot my little spot. They just had me sing a couple lyrics, a little block of lyrics and we were done.”
“Rockstar” was released as the fifth single from Nickelback’s 2005 album All the Right Reasons, peaking at #6 on U.S. Billboard Hot 100 back then. It has since been certified 4× Platinum by the RIAA in the United States. There are tons of other celebrities in this, obviously with the girls of the hit reality show Girls Next Door who lived at the Playboy mansion being the focal point, and it really captures the best of 2000s culture.
Check it out:
Kid Rock – “Warrior” (2008)
This song was recorded by Kid Rock as part of a campaign for the National Guard, which of course sponsored Dale Jr. from 2008 to 2014. The NASCAR driver appears in a fire suit right at the very beginning, and it’s a beautiful tribute to the men and women who so bravely serve our country.
Check it out:
Luke Combs – “Back in the Saddle” (2025)
The most recent song on this list, Dale Jr. is once again behind the wheel as Luke Combs belts out the first release from his forthcoming album, The Way I Am. Jr. previously talked about how it came to be, saying Luke and his team reached out about having him be part of it, and he also gave a little bit of input in terms of how it should look.
Jr. didn’t want to go to a superspeedway to film a video for a song about getting “back in the saddle” and back to your roots, so he suggested they do it a little bit differently:
I was like, this song sounds like it’s about grassroots racing to me. It sounds like a guy getting back into his old s***, you know. And I was like, I don’t drive Next Gen cars, never have, so it’s not very authentic. Never will. I’m never gonna run Next Gen race. And people are gonna go, ‘This is bull***, Dale ain’t coming back to Next Gen racing, you know.
So I thought, I love the late model stock stuff, so why don’t we shine a light on that. So we ended up making that, and she’s like, dang, that just happened.”
You also see an appearance from racing icon Richard Petty, and I have to admit, this is one of my favorites on the list.
In addition to appearing in all of those videos, Dale Jr. also served as an executive producer for the music video for the 2018 song “Ghosts” by the rock band The Dangerous Summer.
It’s actually impressive how much variety he has in terms of the songs on this last, which I think speaks to how universally beloved he is, and once again, it’s cool to look back at so many of them from the early-to-mid 2000s because the vibes and nostalgia are unmatched.
