“Always Liked to Beat Kyle”: Dale Jr Drops a Surprising Confession About Racing His Former HMS Teammates

Dale Earnhardt Jr reigns supreme as one of NASCAR’s most recognizable faces. Despite riding the glory of the 15-time Most Popular Driver award winner, Dale Jr. loved the little joys that came while on the racetrack. He donned a gleeful smile when he saw prominent drivers lamenting in his rear-view mirror as he cruised to Victory Lane.

Winning 26 times in Cup and 13 times in Xfinity, Dale Earnhardt Jr. got this opportunity several times. The people he bested included both his arch-rivals and frenemies, whom Dale Jr hailed as premier teammates. He recently came clean on the most pleasurable moments during his stint at Hendrick Motorsports.

Dale Earnhardt Jr got a taste of beating the elite

The Intimidator’s son entered the NASCAR scene at the family-owned Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) in 1998. After a successful run in the Xfinity Series, he quickly transferred to the Cup Series. Then Dale Earnhardt Jr won 17 times before joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2008. However, joining this team brought novel opportunities for him to beat the surrounding veterans.

One of them was his arch-rival, Kyle Busch. The two drivers cooked up a conflict, which began in the 2007 Kansas race when Dale Jr wrecked Busch’s car and his Championship chances. In an interview with ‘Rubbin is Racing’, Dale Earnhardt Jr confessed to their bitter rivalry, although it simmered down. “Kyle Busch is at the top of the list in terms of drivers that I had some hard times with. We ended up working it out but after my driving career.”

The face-off is exactly why Dale Jr relished overtaking Kyle Busch in races, along with the latter’s driving prowess. “But I always liked to beat Kyle, ’cause he was great. He was an extremely talented race car driver. Plus, you know, we had this little attitude with each other.” 

Other veterans whom Dale Earnhardt Jr enjoyed defeating were his own teammates under Rick Hendrick‘s fold. “I loved beating Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. They were my teammates, so I probably raced them way harder than I should have.” In the ‘Budweiser Shootout’ exhibition race in 2008, Dale Jr scored his first win for HMS, while Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon wound up in 3rd and 4th places respectively. 

Then Dale Earnhardt Jr explained his priceless philosophy behind wanting to beat talented drivers. “Winning a race is great, but it really kind of matters who’s right behind you, or who you pass to get there. And if you beat one of the best that day, it always makes that win a little sweeter.”

Dale Jr’s Cup racing career was indeed a tad bit more enjoyable when veterans were in his rear-view mirror. Interestingly, he took over his rival’s car after the latter wrecked him.

Dale Jr fielded his wrecker’s car 

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The rivalry between Dale Earnhardt Jr and Kyle Busch boiled for several years. However, the two settled things in 2018, a decade after their infamous face-off. But their initial on-track conflict ended in a plot twist. In a 2007 Texas race, Busch’s No. 5 rammed into the back of Dale Jr’s No. 8 and disabled the latter’s engine. Then Busch disappeared from the tracks, and Dale Jr. was offered to take over instead. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr recalled the same in 2018. “So a buddy of mine, one of my drinking buddies that was on the 5 car that I hung out with during the week, he comes over and is like, ‘Hey man, can you drive our car? We’re in a points situation, we need to get a couple more points here and go out and run.’”

This was followed by deep-rooted tensions between the two veterans, although time simmered down their rivalry, eventually.