Boasting 26 Cup Series victories, 15 Most Popular Driver awards, and being the proud owner of a championship-winning Xfinity team, and so much more – Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s list of achievements may be endless. The veteran racer hung up his firesuit at the end of 2017, leaving behind a trailblazer legacy of his own racing career. But one regret stays at the back of his mind.

Contrary to his father’s seven NASCAR Cup championships, Dale Jr. never achieved one. That is credited to some unexpected rule changes and wrecks set off by rivals. However, Dale Jr. admits to his own faults as a driver to be a reason as well.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. draws the spotlight on himself

Currently, one veteran driver still running dry of a Cup Series championship is Denny Hamlin. Despite accumulating 54 Cup victories in almost two decades, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver is still searching for the grand trophy. But he has had predecessors in this regard – Dale Earnhardt Jr. himself. The retired veteran came dangerously close to a championship in 2015, a year when he won six races. But a twist of events during the chase sealed his fate, as Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick enraged Dale Jr. fans. However, Dale Jr chooses to blame himself now.

“I would totally go back and do a lot of it, in terms of the whole season,” he confessed in an episode of Dale Jr. Download. Carl Edwards wrecked him in Charlotte, and then Kevin Harvick sealed his trophy hopes by triggering an 11-car crash in Talladega. But Dale Earnhardt Jr. gathered the blame on himself. “I wasn’t mature enough to really understand how. Maybe if I had done it a little differently…I was just racing to win…Carl turned me down to back at the straightaway in Atlanta. But I feel complicit in that. I feel a little responsibility to be a little smarter in that scenario, to not get us wrecked there.” 

In 2004, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Talladega race but got penalized during an interview. Despite winning the Daytona 500 that year, Dale Jr. admitted that his relaxed attitude hindered further success. He compared himself with 7-time championship winner Jimmie Johnson. “Had I had a better mindset instead of thinking about hanging out with my buddies every Wednesday or Tuesday night and making that as much of a priority as the racing, ’cause it was in 2004…had I been more Jimmie Johnson-esque, just like hammer down and race race race every day, it might have been a different result, who knows?”

There were a lot of things that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would like to have done differently in his NASCAR career. But his reaction to Carl Edwards’ antics stayed the same.

Dale Jr. was lenient back then as well

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After leading a stellar championship charge in 2015, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s hopes started to fade at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 38-time Cup-winning veteran Carl Edwards was behind it, as he wreaked havoc. Two laps prior to their encounter, Dale Jr. threw a big block. But the second time around, Edwards held his ground and contacted Dale Jr’s car, which ultimately hit the wall. Then the final axe fell when Earnhardt slid through the oil on the track, spilled by Justin Allgaier. “I got into the corner and hit oil — it was like ice — and the car flew into the wall,” he said.

So quite like his 2024 stance, Dale Earnhardt Jr. refrained from swearing vengeance against Edwards. He clarified his priorities: “A lot of people want me to go wreck Carl. I’m not going to do that, because if I’m trying to wreck Carl, I’m not winning Kansas, I’m not winning Talladega. You can’t go chase after a guy and put him out of the race and accomplish what your goals are. Our goals are to go to those races and win, that’s what we’re going to do.” This is quite unlike the retributive actions of Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, or Austin Dillon, right?

Dale Jr., ironically, also won the Phoenix race that year. It would have granted him a championship trophy if not for the earlier mishaps. All things said and done, the veteran racer is still a jewel of the sport, championship or no championship.