For the first time in a long time, Dale Earnhardt Jr. sounded more nostalgic than frustrated when talking about his past with Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI), though he always kept the memory of his father alive.
The NASCAR Hall of Famer admitted that a recent surprise discovery gave him a small sense of peace about his family’s fractured legacy, which is rooted in years of silence between him and his stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt.
DEI, founded by the late Dale Earnhardt Sr., was meant to be a family racing empire that carried the Earnhardt name for generations. But after Dale Sr. died in the 2001 Daytona 500, Teresa took complete control of the company and its assets, sparking years of legal and emotional turmoil.
Dale Jr. and his sister Kelley planned to inherit the business someday. Instead, they watched control slip away as Teresa made key decisions, including refusing to sell land, denying the transfer of the No. 8 car, and ultimately overseeing DEI’s decline after Dale Jr. left the team in 2007 for Hendrick Motorsports.
By 2014, the family operation merged, rebranded, and shut down, completely removing the Earnhardt name from NASCAR. Last month, two fans who gained access through a credit promotion shared photos from inside the property.
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The images showed Dale Jr.’s No. 8 car still on display after he assumed that it would be removed. He witnessed the photos firsthand and discussed them on his podcast.
“I was just glad to know that stuff’s still well taken care of. It made me feel good that some of my cars are still there, like in the front. When you go, and you’re looking back, they still celebrate all of the history,” he said on his podcast.
“I didn’t know. I haven’t talked to anybody on that side in so long. I haven’t talked to Teresa in so long that I don’t know where they are emotionally about the relationship, or the lack of a relationship. I was happy to see that some of my cars were still there,” he continued.
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