“I got emotional… I do every time I watch it.” Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s words from a 2017 interview hold even today. The 26-time Cup Series race winner has won at many stellar NASCAR racetracks. Ranging from Talladega to Bristol, many esteemed venues are a part of the veteran’s resume. However, one track stands out – Daytona International Speedway. In 2001, he conquered the 2.5-mile oval in more ways than he could imagine – and that left a deep impact on a friend as well.

Edwin McCain, a 55-year-old pop singer whose songs were radio top-40 hits in the US, has a strong connection with NASCAR. In 2007, he performed his song “I’ll Be” at the funeral ceremony for Bill France Jr. Six years earlier, he witnessed another tragedy – but it led to a heart-warming moment.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. remembers a golden moment

On February 18th, 2001, the NASCAR world held its breath in shock and grief. Dale Earnhardt Sr., a 7-time Cup Series champion and a dazzling icon in the motorsport community, encountered a fatal crash at the Daytona 500. His No. 3 Goodwrench Chevrolet hit the wall off Turn 3 as his son Dale Jr. cruised to a second-place finish and his driver, Michael Waltrip, won the race. The tragedy left peers, fans, and especially Dale Earnhardt Jr. engulfed in heavy emotions. However, the son of the Intimidator embarked on his own journey of healing.

After a crash on the first lap at Rockingham the following week in 2001, which was eerily similar to his father’s, Dale Jr. spent the following months consciously preparing to face Daytona, the track that had stolen his world from him. And Dale Jr. did so successfully during the Pepsi 400 race in the same year on the same track.

In a recent Dale Jr. Download episode, Dale Earnhardt Jr. got a chance to recollect that fateful day. His friend and pop icon Edwin McCain reflected on his perspective of the situation. “I was in Brian France’s jet leaving when your dad crashed. I didn’t know what had happened until I landed.” Then McCain recalled how dumbstruck he was with the atmosphere in Daytona when Dale Jr. came back to conquer it. “And then when I was there…that was one of those moments where I knew the universe looked after making things happen, right? You know what I mean? I don’t know how else to say. It took a lot of anxiety out of my existence to see you do that. Because I was like, there’s justice in that moment.”

During NASCAR’s second Daytona visit in 2001, Dale Earnhardt Jr was not focused on winning. He restarted the race in 6th place with 6 laps to go. But somehow the pieces fell in place – he moved up to the lead in two laps and fended off Michael Waltrip on the final lap. What resulted was 100,000 people in the grandstands feeling in sync with Dale Jr.’s emotions. So the veteran recalled, “The night couldn’t end without the right ending. The win was awesome, the celebration was awesome… To stand there and decompress over a cold beer around the people that were there really was the way to let the pressure off.” McCain added the perfect comment to describe the NASCAR camaraderie in that moment of glory for Dale Jr: “You really are brothers in arms in that community.”

Clearly, Daytona holds a place so special in Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s heart that he can never forget. The bitter part ended with his father’s tragedy, and after that, only sweet memories happened. The most recent one came this year, when Dale Jr. got to relive his Daytona triumphs in a different role.

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Paying tribute all over again

Well, Dale Earnhardt Jr. came back to conquer Daytona several times. After his Pepsi 400 win in 2001, the veteran went on to win two Daytona 500 races in 2004 and 2014. Although Dale Jr. achieved the brim as a racer, he was yet to fetch laurels as a team owner. That was until February 2025, when his team, JR Motorsports, reached a milestone.

Since its inception in 2007, the team has competed only in the Xfinity Series, having accrued four championships. But this year, it ventured into the Cup Series. Justin Allgaier, the No. 7 driver and 2024 Xfinity Champion, clinched a spot in the 67th Daytona 500 through the final transfer position in the first Blue Green Vacations Duel. The odds were stacked against him. Four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves had an advantage via the Open Exemption Provisional rule, and veteran champions like Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson also made the final cut.

As Allgaier got into the race despite the limited spots available, his team owner was emotional. This victory, however small it was, meant another conquest of Daytona for Dale Earnhardt Jr. He reflected on his father’s influence after the Duel race: “I knew that it wasn’t the track that took him, and I knew that he, wherever he was, still felt the same about Daytona. So, I’ve embraced it. Him losing his life on this property brought this property closer to me. Now, that doesn’t work the same for other people and tragedy, but for me, knowing I had to keep coming here, I made some peace with it and embraced the track and love it.”

Evidently, Daytona still occupies a major portion of Dale Earnhardt Jr’s heart. His and his father’s achievements at this famed NASCAR track will stay immortal for ages to come.