Dale Earnhardt Jr. Backs Away From Potentially $100 Million Deal With NASCAR for the Sake of His Family

Dale Earnhardt Jr has done it all. Son of the legendary Dale Earnhardt? Check.
24 Xfinity and 26 Cup Series wins? Check.
Became the Most Popular Driver 15 times from 2003 to 2017? Check.
Running his own team? Check.
Then why did he back away from the deal that could help him expand further?

Here’s the scoop: Stewart-Haas Racing, with two Cup titles and 69 wins since it kicked off in 2009, is closing shop after the 2024 season. People were talking about how Junior may expand his squad by snagging one of their spots. SHR got four charters, and the community was thinking teams like Front Row Motorsports, 23XI Racing, JR Motorsports, RFK Racing, and Trackhouse Racing might be looking to buy in. But hold up, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Brad Keselowski both said their teams aren’t in on the action. So now we’re down to just three contenders.

Has Dale Earnhardt Jr. shelved his Cup Series dreams for his family?

First off, in a lighthearted exchange, Brad Keselowski responded to a fan’s tweet that was hoping RFK Racing would snag a charter from Stewart-Haas Racing. Keselowski quipped on Twitter, “I’m 30M short at the moment. Friends say we should start a GoFundMe.” Joining in was JR Motorsports CEO Kelley Earnhardt (Dale Jr’s sister) with a playful, “Haha us too!”

But for Dale Earnhardt Jr, it’s personal. He’s all about investing in stuff that’s going to set up a solid future for his family, especially his daughters. He’s been saying it loud and clear that owning a NASCAR team or a charter ain’t just about making bank—it’s all about the love for the sport.

On June 4, Junior dropped a new episode of The Dale Jr. Download. Talking about the charter issue, he said, “They’re just too expensive. […] Right now, the business model looks terrible. […] When that all gets resolved, the value will then pop a little bit. And I think it just continues to grow annually as it naturally has. Right? Charters were selling for $2 million, $6 million, $12 million, $20 million, 30, and $40 million. And now they’ve kind of ratcheted back down just a, just a little bit. But, ’cause I felt like that was probably more rare if they’re selling for 25, $30 million, I feel like that’s probably a more realistic value of the charter.”

Junior isn’t wrong here because charter values could potentially reach $100 million in the future. And he just isn’t ready for that kind of investment. However, if we backtrack to 2016 when the charter system was established, they were free. But since teams sell/purchase them, their value has skyrocketed.

Further discussing the impact on his family, Junior also stated, “Personally, I would rather do something else with that money for the benefit of my girls. And so I can take that and I can, I, there’s where, where I, there’s a lot of investments and opportunities, right? […] I’m not buying a charter and putting millions of dollars away into something that I can’t then recoup or, or sell for a profit. […] You know, we’ve, we’ve always raced to go win a race and compete, not, you know, not thinking about it as a, a, a way to profit or, and so I can do that with other investments or whatever for my girls and yeah.”

That doesn’t mean Dale Earnhardt Jr. has completely scrapped the idea of entering the Cup series. The owner of JR Motorsports also mentioned in a recent episode on SiriusXM that he’s been looking into getting some financial backing to help invest in a Cup Series charter. But now that the family feud with stepmother Teresa is evidently coming to an end, does that mean he’ll have some backing from there?

However, Junior made it clear that he’s probably not going to be the one writing Stewart a check during this silly season. It seems he’s got a strategy up his sleeve to make a move into the Cup series, eventually. What is he planning?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. might make his way into the Cup series with some help!

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In a recent chat on SiriusXM NASCAR, Dale Jr. expressed satisfaction with his current focus on the Xfinity Series, Cars Tour, and Late Models. Yet, he hasn’t ruled out a foray into the Cup Series. He shared that he’s been toying with a couple of ideas: “Kelley and I could bring in some financial support to acquire charters, and JR Motorsports becomes a [NASCAR Cup Series] team. That’s kinda been the idea in our mind for the last several years.”

Alternatively, Junior mentioned that if fully diving into the Cup series isn’t in the cards, he and Kelley Earnhardt Miller might explore investing in an existing team or acquiring a single charter. Junior noted that if he can’t run a Cup team like he does at JR Motorsports, he’d prefer to invest in just one race car, where he could still have some sway over its operations on the track.

Fans are keen to see a charter under Dale Jr’s banner racing sooner rather than later, but he’s also thinking about what’s best for his daughters’ futures. Only time can tell what he decides to do. Do you think he should buy a charter and expand, nonetheless? Let us know in the comments below.