Dale Earnhardt Jr Goes Down Memory Lane as Video of His 1996 Late Model Stock Race Win Resurfaces

It’s been over six years since Dale Earnhardt Jr hung his helmet and bid farewell to full-time racing. However, he is as invested in the sport as ever, calling the races for NBC, producing Dirty Mo Media podcasts,  and even donning his fire suit occasionally. Though the NASCAR season officially ended after the awards banquet in Nashville, Junior is still very active on social media. And to his surprise, he came across a gem of a video on YouTube.  

Dale Earnhardt Jr gets nostalgic after an old victory resurfaces on the Internet

The world of the internet is a myriad place. While this virtual world has the potency to spread news like wildfire, it is also the repository of the good old days. It seems that Dale Earnhardt Jr was pleasantly surprised after a racing video of his resurfaced on YouTube, one he never knew existed.

The video in question was from his stint in Late Model racing back in the 90s. For many, Florence Motor Speedway in Timmonsville, South Carolina, might be just another track for local races, but for the JR Motorsports co-owner, it holds a special place in his racing career. In an episode of The Dale Jr. Download podcast, Junior had once expressed, “I raced at Florence every Friday night, probably 14 times a year.” Junior was a frequent driver at Florence Speedway between 1994 and 1996, before upgrading to Busch Series.

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Dale Jr’s 1996 victory in the Late Model race at the Florence Motor Speedway marked his only win on the 2/5-mile track. Seeing the race uploaded on YouTube the former  Cup Series driver took to Twitter to express his astonishment. He stated, “A 1996 late model stock race I won @FlorenceMSpdwy was just uploaded to YouTube. I didn’t know video of it even existed. Cheers to you internet and technology.” 

Dale Jr’s mentor speaks about the Intimidator’s plans for him, while Carson Hocevar responds to his Tweet

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The victory at Florence Motor Speedway was perhaps one of the toughest nuts that Dale Earnhardt Jr had to crack early on in his career. Moreover, it was also through the mentorship of his father and Charlie Powell, the owner of the track, that the driver tasted his success. 

In an interview, reminiscing about the victory, Powell expressed, “It started out with [Dale Jr’s] dad calling me and telling me he wanted Dale Jr to race Florence a couple of years before he moved him up anywhere else and didn’t want him to race in the Charlotte area where they lived in Kannapolis. He wanted him to race at Florence and Myrtle Beach. We ran Fridays, and Myrtle Beach ran Saturdays.

“[…] He asked me if I would look after him. And one of the things he wanted was for [Junior] not to be treated different from anybody else.” This eventually resulted in Junior grinding hard for his first win at the track. Powell also added, “The drivers didn’t cut him no slack. When he won that race, he earned it.”

Dale Jr had definitely earned it, and it turns out he still has a memorabilia related to the race. He revealed on Twitter, “I still have the car and the setup sheet from that event.”

His confession of still retaining the setup sheet seems to have interested the 2024 Cup Series season’s rookie driver Carson Hocevar, who commented, “Care to share said sheet?” Hopefully, he will share it on X.

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