It’s not every day that a NASCAR Hall of Famer inadvertently engineers a musical alliance because of a mislabeled Napster track. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has always been more than just a stock car icon. His world often overlaps with music, film, and pop culture, fostering friendships that exist well beyond racetrack walls.

From the unexpected friendship between him and Kid Rock to collaborating with Chris Stapleton for JR Motorsports’ Cup Series debut, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s friendships have always colored his public persona with an artistic brush. Nonetheless, his friendship with singer-songwriter Edwin McCain is by far the one that takes the checkered flag for being the most unique.

The two recently recounted a rather embarrassing moment that turned into an unusual musical pact between McCain and fellow artist Shawn Mullins, further proving, once again, that NASCAR’s favorite son has a unique ability to get pretty serious connections going. It was a botched Napster download that escalated into something that is now changing live concert performance for both artists’ fans.

A Napster mix-up that Dale Jr. didn’t catch

The embarrassment was real, as Dale Earnhardt Jr. confessed on his podcast when he asked McCain to perform a song that wasn’t even his. “We had a little party, and I asked you to come and do that,” Dale recalled. “You show up and we’re upstairs and you said, ‘Hey, anything you want me to play tonight?’ Do you remember what I asked you to play?”

Not waiting a second, McCain said, “A hundred percent—and here’s the thing, it’s not your fault.” Dale Jr. interjected like a champ, with, “It is!” But, of course, McCain blamed it all on Napster for the misconception. “Napster mislabeled the song. You were like, ‘Hey, you do this really great cover of In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel.’ And I was like, ‘Oh that’s Jeffrey Gaines that does that.’”

Before the days of Spotify and Apple Music taking over the music streaming world, Napster was the first to venture into that field and did so with astounding success. However, being the first to do so, it did come with its mistakes, and some mistakes were repeated so often that they changed the course of live performances, as McCain further pointed out in his conversation on the Dale Jr. Download!

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The discussion flowed into a hilarious recount of how Napster’s digital mayhem would misguide fans towards wrong concerts, with effects such as singing to songs that even artists didn’t write. “Shawn Mullins and I were mislabeled so bad,” said McCain with laughter. “I had these 20-year-old girls just angry that I’m not playing Rockabye at the show.“

Napster had mislabeled Shawn Mullins’ and Edwin McCain’s songs for each other, and fans had no way to find out who was who back then! Live performances were the only exposure to these artists, and after a point, Mullins and McCain had had enough. Edwin revealed that he ended up calling Shawn Mullins to swap songs because of Napster! McCain said, “I’m like, you know what? I’m not going to let that go down that way. I called Shawn, and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m going to start playing Rockabye.’ He’s like, ‘Good. I’m going to start playing I’ll Be.’”

Napster misled a generation of music fans into thinking a different artist made their favorite song. However, that small error led to a shift in the trend of live performances, as to this day, McCain performs songs that aren’t his, telling Dale Earnhardt Jr., “I still play that song [In Your Eyes] as a cover. I even played it at the Jammer show because I knew you were there!” This not only reflects McCain’s love for his fans, but also for Dale Jr. as well, as he remembered to play one of the latter’s favorite songs, despite knowing the mistake deeply embarrasses Junior.

More than just music

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and McCain’s connection goes way beyond a sense of humor shared between them. Beyond the years, it is about mutual respect combined with a few collaborations here and there. A singer-songwriter embedded within NASCAR enough to be asked personally to perform at one of the team’s end-of-year parties is a rarity. That very much says everything possible about how tight McCain and Earnhardt have become.

McCain was also invited to perform the national anthem for NASCAR at the Pepsi 400 at Daytona in 2001, the race which Dale Earnhardt Jr. won just months after witnessing his father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., pass away at that track at the Daytona 500. It was an emotional moment for racing, graced by Edwin McCain’s vocals, and concluded with Junior’s redeeming victory. Their bond might not have started there, but looking back, the moment seems as poetic as ever.

And with everything said and done, while the music mishap was hilarious, it pointed to Earnhardt Jr. merging NASCAR heritage with everything beyond the track. Be it having McCain at team events or podcast airtime, it’s Dale Jr., always opening the door for NASCAR to become bigger than just him and extending that mileage to friendships, shows that even effort goes both ways.

McCain is out on tour promoting his new music, which also includes some new bonus tracks that he didn’t originally plan on doing. Meanwhile, Dale Earnhardt Jr. remains seriously plugged into the sport through everything he does in media, team ownership, and more podcasts, which keep drawing back the curtain on motorsports and life outside of it.

Whether mislabeling tracks or remixing memories, this duo proves that even a Napster error could have a silver lining.