This Saturday, Dale Earnhardt Jr. took fans on a nostalgic ride back to the 2000s at Florence Motor Speedway. Wheeling his iconic #8 Budweiser Chevy Late Model, Junior started deep in the pack, roaring from a 40th-place grid spot to finish 28th in the South Carolina 400. But don’t let the results fool you—Dale Jr.’s grit and determination stole the show the entire day.

He could’ve landed himself a top-5, at the least, if not for that broken fuel pump. Regardless, the 50-year-old racing legend reminded us exactly why he was NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver for 15 straight years with his return. And we can’t get enough! From his glory days at DEI to his rollercoaster run with Hendrick Motorsports, and even his passion-fueled Late Model races after hanging up his full-time Cup helmet, Dale Jr. has been stealing our hearts for longer than most would imagine.
But if there’s one what-if scenario that’s always fired up Jr. Nation, it’s that forbidden Richard Childress Racing connection that never made it past the rumor mill. And the grandstands know well why that deal never came into existence.

What really happened? Dale Jr.’s near-miss with Richard Childress Racing

Just to be clear, Dale Jr. did drive for Richard Childress. Almost exactly one year after his father’s passing at the 2001 Daytona 500, he teamed up with The Intimidator’s former team owner, taking his #3 car to victory lane at the season-opening EAS/GNC Live Well 300 Busch Series race at Daytona International Speedway. He drove the #3 one more time at Charlotte that year, but that would be it. For most of Jr.’s career, he was with two teams—Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Hendrick Motorsports.

After winning the Busch Series back-to-back in 1998 & 1999 with his family organization, a young Dale Jr. made the big step up to the Winston Cup Series in 2000, and won two races in his rookie year. That’s one Victory Lane visit less than Tony Stewart’s record set only one year ago with Joe Gibbs Racing. It’s only ironic those two became good friends off the track as the years passed by. But before Smoke became an owner-driver in NASCAR with Stewart-Haas Racing, Dale Earnhardt Inc. shut down their operations in the 2009 season under the ownership of Jr’s stepmother Teresa Earnhardt.The Man in Black’s widow and his son had a falling out only a few years prior. The pair exchanged some harsh words. But long story short, Dale Jr. wanted majority ownership of DEI, and Teresa wasn’t having any of it. That forced him to split. Naturally, the Dale Jr. brand became the hottest commodity in NASCAR. His availability had powerhouse teams like JGR and RCR itching to lock him down. After all, the sport’s most popular driver has always boasted some big backers for his racing ventures.

Brands like Budweiser and Bass Pro Shops were proud supporters of Junior. However, it was never truly about the dollars—the man has acknowledged that multiple times. But if there’s one thing that a NASCAR driver craves, it is wins. So Dale Jr. signed the dotted line for Hendrick Motorsports, the winningest team in NASCAR. On June 13, 2007, Dale Jr. announced the news in a press conference. He would replace Kyle Busch, who joined Joe Gibbs Racing the following season. In return, Hendrick Motorsports would host a new quartet featuring Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Rick Hendrick handed Junior reins to the #88 car, a number his grandfather, the legendary Ralph Earnhardt, used in the early days of NASCAR. But beyond that, Robert Gee, Dale Jr.’s maternal grandfather, was one of the first employees at Rick Hendrick’s race team, back when it still went by All-Star Racing (circa. 1984). In a way, it was a second homecoming for the new #88 Hendrick Motorsports driver. But diehard fans can’t help but wonder what might have been if the stars had aligned for a full-circle reunion with Richard Childress Racing.

In that one month between Junior’s exit from DEI and his Hendrick Motorsports announcement, whispers were certainly loud about another #3 car revival, with the black paint scheme and everything. That would’ve technically made Dale Earnhardt Jr. the first driver to use the gloried #3 after his father. It would’ve skyrocketed merchandise sales, and bring a smile to the faces of Earnhardt fans worldwide. Unfortunately, nothing like that ever transpired.

There are plenty of reasons why that deal never got off the ground. For one, Richard Childress Racing hadn’t claimed a premier series championship title since Dale Earnhardt Sr. brought home his seventh and RCR’s last in 1994. But if you scratch the surface deep enough, an eye-opening answer waits beneath the layers. Ultimately, everything boils down to money in a sport as expensive as NASCAR. But the fans explain it better with their colorful opinions on social media.

Fans reignite the 2007  Jr.-RCR rumor mill on Reddit

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On the NASCAR subreddit, one passionate fan posted a thread titled “2007 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Rumor.” The rumor talks about Dale Jr. joining RCR and the No. 3 team after his split from DEI. Reddit user u/codymacc8 clarified that this was one of those “peak off-season” discussions that the grandstands love to discuss. The question was simple: “I remember hearing from somewhere (no idea where) that Richard Childress offered Dale Jr. to bring the black number 3 car back out of retirement if Dale signed there, but Junior had zero interest in doing that. Was this true? Or is this random 2000s Junior fan nonsense?”

The Reddit post gained a lot of traction in only a few hours, and most fans stated the obvious answer. “I would definitely think RCR made Jr a great offer, just about all the big teams were pursuing him,” they wrote in reply to the initial question. For that fact, Richard Childress Racing wasn’t the only one chasing Dale Jr. back then. Rumors even linked Joe Gibbs Racing to the hottest free agent in the market back in 2007-08. One fan wrote, “I’ve heard that JGR was actually initially the leader to land Jr, but he didn’t want to switch to Toyota so he pivoted to Hendrick Motorsports.”

Dale Jr. shared quite a close relationship with Chevy, having driven Chevy cars for the entirety of his driving career. But the grandstands delved even deeper into the mystery of his RCR offer that never transpired. “The offer had to be there. For both sentimental reasons but also for the business side.” Some even suggested, “If the black 3 came back with JR, RCR may be where Hendrick is today from the revenue they would bring in to allow more investment.” However, that might be far from the reality. There’s no question. Richard Childress and Rick Hendrick are living legends of the sport in their respective regards. But there is one major difference. The latter made most of his money outside the sport of NASCAR.

At the time of this writing, Celebrity Net Worth estimated Rick Hendrick’s value to be cruising around the $1 billion mark. Meanwhile, Richard Childress’s net worth lies between the $250-$300 million ballpark. Both those team owners own businesses outside of the sport. However, Rick Hendrick is the proud owner of Hendrick Automotive Group—a chain of car dealerships located across 13 states in the US. They employ over 5,000 people while raking in a revenue figure close to $9.5 billion annually. But that’s not all. Rick Hendrick became one of the youngest Chevy dealers in the United States at 23.

Situations like that urged the diehards to opine, “No chance RCR would have been where HMS is (if Dale Jr joined them).” In other terms, “HMS has a billionaire owner who’s rich independent of the sport. While RC is rich. He’s rich because of the sport… The revenue that came with JR isn’t what catapulted HMS nor would it have leap frogged RCR. The GM performance center is located on the property of HMS. Why? Hendrick has the money and the car dealerships that RC doesn’t.”

Others concurred, “You need money from non-motorsports sources to compete at a top tier in NASCAR today and Childress just doesn’t have that in the way that every other top tier ownership group does.” This goes with no disrespect to Richard Childress or his 6-time championship-winning race team—they currently employ the highest-earning NASCAR driver, Kyle Busch. But let’s call it like it is. RCR has fallen somewhat behind with its equipment in recent years. And the results are proof of that notion.

A certain member of the NASCAR community had an interesting question amidst the discussions. “Didn’t [Richard Childress] also offer Dale to fill in for Austin Dillon during the covid season?” Another user affirmed that. “(He) Sure did, at the Daytona RC of all places.” Regardless, we as fans can only imagine the “merch sales” a deal of that level would spur in the grand scheme. In 2024, it might be too much of a stretch to wish for a Dale Jr.-Richard Childress Racing collaboration. But if it ever happened, the nostalgia would probably be through the roof for the entire NASCAR nation.