Legends never truly leave the track; they wait for the right moment to fire up the engine again. And in the case of one quiet figure from NASCAR’s past, that moment has arrived. For longtime fans of the Earnhardt dynasty, a familiar shadow is about to stretch once more across the short tracks of North Carolina. Before Dale Earnhardt Jr. ever slid into the #8 Budweiser Chevy, there was another son of Dale Earnhardt blazing his own path.
Kerry Earnhardt, the eldest of “The Intimidator” Dale Sr.’s children, first discovered that the latter was his biological father around 9th grade, but never met him in person until he got his driver’s license at 16. After talking for hours with his grandmother, Kerry mustered the courage to approach Dale Earnhardt Sr. in his garage. He remembered, “I opened that door… and dad was under the hood. And he just raised up when I opened the door, and dad’s like ‘Hey, son,’” which was the first real father-son moment they had.
Now, after nearly 16 years away from full-bodied stock car competition, Kerry is strapping back in. It might just be the revival that Dale Sr. would’ve grinned at from the infield grass. The mustache, the look, the Earnhardt aura. It’s all back, even if it is just for one night for now.
Kerry never had the headlines or the spotlight. But what he had was blue-collar grit. He rose through the local short tracks and the ARCA Series, even scoring four ARCA wins and running part-time Cup and Busch Series races throughout the early 2000s. It was in the ARCA Menards Series where he truly found his stride, with 21 Top 10s and 2 poles in just 38 starts between 1998 and 2001, including a strong finish in the 2001 ARCA standings while driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. But Kerry didn’t get handed the keys; he built his own road, often one bump at a time, and now he is carrying the legacy forward.
In an Instagram post exclusively by Lucky Dog on Track, it was revealed that Kerry Earnhardt would be returning to the racing scene, taking the wheel of AJ Henrikson’s #46 ECC Motorsports entry in the Grand National Super Series this weekend, back to the same kind of battle ground where his legend first took root. “Family calls AJ Henriksen away, but the #46 won’t sit idle. Kerry Earnhardt steps in, bringing the Earnhardt legacy back to the short track scene this Saturday at Tri-County Speedway. Sixteen years later, the name’s still got horsepower.”
As his half-brother and now closer than ever, Dale Jr. reacted to the news on social media with barely contained joy, writing, “Holy smokes this is amazing news.” For most of his life, Kerry Earnhardt has carried a last name that opened doors and then quietly watched as those same doors closed behind others. Born from Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s first marriage, Kerry grew up apart from the NASCAR spotlight, raised in modest circumstances, and working manual labor jobs before he ever saw the inside of a race car. He didn’t have a corporate pipeline or a high-profile debut. Instead, he pieced together opportunities by wrenching on cars, working the hauler, and showing up at local bullrings.
In 2001, Kerry finally got a shot in the Busch Series and even made Cup starts for teams like FitzBradshaw Racing and Richard Childress Racing. But the sport was changing. Sponsorship dictated seat time, and Kerry fell victim to an era that prioritized flash over fight. Still, he left an impression. In the ARCA Series, where he had the room to race hard, he notched 4 wins and 22 Top 10 finishes in just 35 starts between 2000 and 2002. One of his most memorable wins came at Charlotte in 2001. But then the opportunities dried up.
While Dale Jr. went on to become NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver 15 times and helped build DEI into a powerhouse, Kerry faded from the national spotlight and turned his attention to family and business. He became the face of the Earnhardt Collection, a line of homes he co-founded with his wife Rene, and worked behind the scenes with JR Motorsports in various capacities. “Rene and I have worked extremely hard to develop the Earnhardt Collection brand and make it uniquely ours. I chose to leave a successful career in racing and could not be happier with what we’ve been able to achieve in the five years we’ve been building our home lifestyle brand inspired by our love of the outdoors,” said Kerry.
Kerry was a talented racer caught in the wrong era, with the wrong backing, and a weighty name he had to live up to without ever fully inheriting its resources. That is why this return to Tri-County Speedway matters. It is not about a Cup ride or national television. It is about going back to the roots. To the same Carolina soil where Dale Sr. bled to build a legacy, and now his oldest son returns, not with a media circus, but in a Grand National Super Series car.
Drivers like AJ Henriksen, having multiple wins and helping grow the series, have become mainstays, while names like Jeremy Mayfield, Jody Lavender, and Mike Skinner have also made appearances, adding credibility and excitement. And as Kerry takes to the track this weekend, the echoes of his father’s teachings and his family’s support are setting the stage for what could be a transformative moment in his comeback story.
The family rift behind NASCAR’s greatest name
At the Texas Motor Speedway in 2000, Dale Jr. showed a phenomenal performance in his #8 Chevrolet despite being flu-stricken. Leading a staggering 106 of 336 laps, besting veterans and silencing doubters, he made his father proud of him. “It was pretty straightforward. I had the flu most of that week, but that didn’t bother me once we got going… Really, nothing too unusual happened. I pretty much did whatever I wanted,” Junior said in a post-race interview.
While it was a heartwarming sight to see Dale Sr, parking his own car and rushing to his son’s side, wrapping Junior in a bear hug, proudly declaring, “He worked hard. It took a lot of hard work, and I knew it would be just a matter of time… He drove the hell out of it. He’s something else, man,” it opened a deeper question that the audience wrestled with for years: did Dale Sr. show favoritism toward Junior at the expense of Kerry Earnhardt?
No matter how close the relationship, the pain was real. The night Dale Earnhardt Sr. died at Daytona, Kerry’s career hopes were abruptly dashed. As he shared on The Dale Jr. Download, “He [Dale Earnhardt] mentioned how much he regretted every minute of being gone… but he was chasing a dream.” A DEI executive, called Kerry, that very night to cancel the racing deal Sr. had planned for him. And while Dale Jr. also faced challenges, he still had his father watching, testing, guiding, and eventually backing him. “There were days when I’d walk up and go, ‘I wanna race! I wanna become a race car driver!’ And he’s like, ‘Well, what are you doing to make that happen?”
In the end, both sons were shaped by Dale Sr., but only one got the chance to make him proud before it was too late. But with a determined Kerry making a comeback, maybe it will never be too late, after all.
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