Last Saturday, Dale Earnhardt Jr. resurrected an old legacy. The blazing red colors of Budweiser came back after 17 long years. But alongside the good memories, the bad memories also made a mark. During the qualifying races for the South Carolina 400, Dale Jr. reminded people of his jittery rookie days. Struggles with qualifying plagued the beginning of his race, although he picked up the pace ultimately.

The 15-time Most Popular Driver debuted in NASCAR in 1999, 25 years ago. His growth was charted with golden peaks in the early 2000s, but they were not devoid of terrible failures like Dale Jr.’s Rockingham run right after his father’s tragedy. In 2024, the anxiety linked to driving a race car did not leave Dale Jr. either.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. confesses he got cold feet

Well, carrying the weight of thousands of fans’ expectations can tend to do that to you. Florence Motor Speedway was a sellout for the CARS Tour race. People flooded to watch their beloved Dale Earnhardt Jr. compete against the cream of CARS drivers in the classic No. 8 paint scheme. However, Junior faced a multitude of problems, of which qualifying stood out. He finished 16th in the first qualifying race, which was not good enough to qualify for the 250-lap main event. Although Junior was granted a provisional by track officials to start 37th, the veteran was worried.

Experiencing a spate of anxiety, Dale Earnhardt Jr. used one of the four provisionals to start the race instead of risking tearing up his late model running from the back of the heats. Even that was not enough to quell his overflowing worries, as he candidly said on an episode of the Dale Jr. Download: “In qualifying…I know I’ve got a provisional…I’m not going to risk tearing up the car in the heat race… and not get to run in the main… I already got it in my head, ‘There’s no f—king way I’m making the top 20…’ The best I’d run in any mocks that weekend was 85. So I gotta pick up two-tenths to make this top-20 and I felt zero f—king confidence.”

In racecars, MSD ignition boxes have a chip that would set the rev limiter to a different RPM. So Dale Earnhardt Jr. caught wind of his slow pace when he did not hit the chip at all. “We’re going through the back straightaway, and there was a chip in the car… It’s going to be a sign that it’s a decent lap… As soon as I get to the point where I’m hoping I would land on the chip… that never happened and I panicked! I thought, this f—king lap is so slow, that I didn’t even touch the chip… At this point, I am totally off my game, like lost… I jump out of the gas pedal and get to 3 and 4, and I’m like, ‘I’m way under speed here.’ 10 miles an hour slower than I should be.” 

These struggles remind us of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s yesteryears when he mucked it up in several races.

Chips on the veteran’s shoulder

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Over two decades, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has established himself as a sublime racer. But even through his victorious runs, the veteran had miserable runs sprinkled in between. In the first half of 2000, Dale Jr. won three races – Texas, Richmond, and Winston. However, the cracks set in during the latter half, and his worst race was the NAPA Autocare 500. A poor qualifying effort saw him start 32nd, and Dale Jr. ran at the back of the field for most of the race while bumping into many things. “Tell that boy to park it,” Dale Sr. told Richard Childress. Then, after his father passed away in 2001, the race immediately after was at Rockingham, one of Dale Jr.’s worst tracks.

He performed terribly both in qualifying and practice. On the first lap, Junior was bumped from behind by Ron Hornaday Jr. and sent into the wall. The 150-mile-per-hour impact ended his day and he ended up finishing 43rd. However, these experiences toughened the veteran through the years.

Despite his nervousness in Florence, Dale Earnhardt Jr. admitted his years of maturity ultimately helped him. “I’m 50 f—king years old, I drove race cars for 20 f—king years… When I got the yips, I’ll figure it out myself, nobody’s gotta give some golden f—king egg to fix it.” He swiftly progressed from 37th to 2nd place by mid-race and could have won if not for an engine failure with 30 laps left.

Evidently, Dale Earnhardt Jr. still has that old spark in him. Although qualifying did not go well, the veteran made up for it during the race.