“It Was a Special Moment”: Dale Earnhardt Jr’s First NASCAR Win Led to a Touching Reaction From His Father

It’s not easy to carry your name further when you are already balancing yourself on the shoulders of a sprinting giant. There are many examples in sporting history of daughters and sons outperforming their parents, but such stories get rarer when the parents themselves are established, once-in-a-lifetime phenomena. Dale Earnhardt Jr was born with a legacy that ran ahead of him all the time, but it can be argued that he has managed to reduce—even negate—the gap. And no one appears prouder of it than his father.

Entering the NASCAR Cup Series (then, the Busch Grand National Series) with two Xfinity Series titles, Junior brought a lot of expectations with him. His initial runs in the 1999 season were anything but “spectacular”; neither were the ones at the start of the 2000 season. But just as the expectations of Earnhardt fans were dwindling, Junior changed everything—the day was April 2nd, 2000; venue: the Texas Motor Speedway.

The young driver started the race at 4th, taking the lead 6 times throughout the race, and leading 106 of the 336 laps. On top of that, he won the race with a leisurely 5.92 seconds ahead of Jeff Burton. The achievement came despite his suffering from flu throughout the season. The Rocky Mountain Telegram quoted him as they talked about the victory.

Talking about the victory, Junior was quoted by the Rocky Mount Telegram as saying, “It was pretty straightforward, I had the flu most of that week, but that didn’t bother me once we got going. There weren’t any omens or superstitious feelings or signs. The car was good all day. Really, nothing too unusual happened. I pretty much did whatever I wanted.”

He was thrilled, but not as much as his father.

Dale Earnhardt Sr. was more excited than anyone else

Just as Junior crossed the finish line, The Intimidator parked his No. 3 car and rushed to his son. Junior still recalls his father yelling, “Get out of there, boy; get out of that car.”

Dale Jr. later described the entire scene with his father after his first race, “I got out and climbed up on the roof, pretty excited. He helped pull me down … gave me a big hug and told me he loved me. He was pretty excited. It was a special moment because that was the hardest I’d ever driven a race car.”

It was the happiest the Intimidator had ever been seen

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Dale Sr. had a bit to say about his son’s first Cup Series win later on. “This is great (because) he worked hard,” the seven-time champion told the media that afternoon. “It took a lot of hard work and I knew it would be just a matter of time. The crew gave him a great car and he drove the hell out of it. He’s something else, man.”

In fact, CBS reported that Ned Jarrett recalled the moment as the happiest he had ever seen “Big Dale.”

“Maybe when he finally won the Daytona 500 (in 1998),” Jarrett said. “But I don’t know. Maybe not even then. It’s a close call.” Apparently, he was happier to see his son win than he was when he finally tackled the Daytona 500, as Ned explained.

It just goes to show how much he cared about his son. Clearly, Junior has carried the Earnhardt name well. And even though he couldn’t replicate his father’s exploits as a driver, he sure has put his mark as one of the most iconic figures in NASCAR history. Despite retiring a few years ago, the JRM owner continues to rank among the most famous people in NASCAR—and he has done enough to deserve it.