Today, we look at Dale Earnhardt Jr. as one of the wisest advocates and one of the most passionate fans there is in NASCAR. But he wasn’t always this way, particularly during a certain period of his career.

That period is a rather dark one, the one which followed right after Dale Earnhardt’s tragic death in 2001, when his team, Dale Earnhardt Incorporated or DEI, was lacking a leader and was in a free fall.

It was during that time that Junior made a decision in a flurry of anger, which left him pretty regretful.

Dale Earnhardt Jr recalls the incident which left him “so mad” with his crew chief

In a recent conversation with Steve Hmiel during an episode of his podcast show, Dale Earnhardt Jr. opened up on the time he got so furious he made a pretty big mistake, one which he began to regret pretty soon.

“I’m sitting in Richie’s office, me and Tony Jr., I don’t remember what happened the week before, but we get to Homestead and we’re racing to finish 3rd in points. We get to Homestead, and Junior is in a s**t mood, and so am I. We’re in practice, and I can’t figure this freaking track out,” Earnhardt Jr. recalled.

“I couldn’t get the car to get fast, we were struggling in practice, and we got, he was basically like, tired of my s**t. And we quit, literally in a matter of a hour, went from starting day just like any other crew chief driver combo to not even one f**k given,” he continued. “I’m not even going up in that truck to see this a**hole.”

“We were so mad at each other, by the time the morning practice was over with…we couldn’t stand to look at each other.”

Earnhardt Jr. realized soon enough he’d made “a pretty big mistake”

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Junior, who confessed he was “immature” during that time, went on to describe that he was not well equipped to handle the situation better, considering how hot-headed he was.

“We go through the whole weekend and we leave the racetrack and we get home and I sit down with Richie and he’s like, ‘We gotta do something man, this can’t continue. I think we should…we’ve talked about the ideal switch in the team,’ and I was like, ‘That’s a good idea. F**k that. F**k this s**t,'” he described.

“I’mma prove to Tony Jr and Tony Sr., I could go with somebody else and do just as good.”

This, Junior said, he wishes someone would’ve grabbed him and asked him if he had any idea what kind of season he’d had before, whether he was sure, whether he knew what he was talking about.

“I realized pretty early in the first year that I’d made a pretty big mistake,” Earnhardt Jr. confessed. “In my mind, I was so far, I was so lost and assure that I knew what the f**k I was doing.”

Also Read: “He Learned So Much From His Dad” – Denny Hamlin Ranks Dale Earnhardt Jr High in Lesser-Talked-About NASCAR List