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Racing with Dale Jr.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a third-generation driver in a family forever connected to the sport of stock-car racing, and while his innate ability behind the wheel comes from Earnhardt DNA, his competitive driving style and keen business sense are all his own. His flair for originality and common-sense charisma have helped propel him to one of the most popular figures in sports. Race fans have selected him seven consecutive times as the winner of NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver award, joining Bill Elliott as the only drivers to win it seven consecutive seasons since 1956. Earnhardt’s appeal is not limited to race fans, as he appears often on Harris Interactive’s annual polling of America’s Top 10 Favorite Athletes, frequenting the list with such names as Michael Jordan, Brett Favre and Derek Jeter.

The 2010 season marks Earnhardt’s 11th in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition. Through 2009, the native of Kannapolis, N.C., has amassed 18 career victories, including the 2004 Daytona 500. His 18 victories tie him for 39th on NASCAR’s all-time race winners list. He also has six non-points wins (three in the Gatorade Duel, two in the Budweiser Shootout and one all-star victory) and eight pole positions.

Earnhardt is the only third-generation NASCAR champion, achieved when he won the 1998 and 1999 NASCAR Nationwide Series titles. He follows his legendary father Dale Earnhardt Sr., a seven-time Cup champion and winner of 76 races, and his grandfather Ralph Earnhardt, the 1956 NASCAR Sportsman champion. In October 2009, Earnhardt Sr. was selected as a posthumous inductee in the inaugural 2010 class for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. In 2007, Ralph Earnhardt was inducted posthumously into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame. Both his father and grandfather were selected among NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers of all time in 1999. The three Earnhardts combine for 10 NASCAR championships.

Until 2008, Earnhardt Jr.’s career as a full-time driver was solely within the confines of the family-owned business, Dale Earnhardt Inc., in which he accumulated 39 victories in the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series from 1998-2007. But the 2008 season marked one of significant change, as Earnhardt made the boldest decision of his young career by signing with renowned team owner Rick Hendrick to drive the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. High-powered sponsorship deals soon followed, as Pepsi-Cola’s AMP Energy brand and the Army National Guard agreed to a co-primary sponsorship with Hendrick Motorsports to partner with Earnhardt and the No. 88 team.

With a successful driving career in motion, Earnhardt’s role as team owner and businessman has enjoyed its own ascent. In 2002, JR Motorsports consisted of only six employees and a street-stock Camaro raced at the local short tracks. Today the organization encompasses a full stable of cars that competes in the Nationwide Series and local weekly late model divisions. In July 2007, Earnhardt announced a partnership deal with Hendrick Motorsports—under the JRM banner with Hendrick Motorsports engines, chassis and vehicle engineering support—to field two Nationwide Series race teams.  JR Motorsports earned a total of four victories in 2008 and four more in 2009, establishing Earnhardt’s company as one of the most prominent in the Nationwide Series. In December 2009, JR Motorsports made headlines after signing IndyCar star Danica Patrick to a partial schedule starting in 2010. The move groups two of racing’s most popular athletes under one roof.   

Earnhardt’s first turn at ownership began with Chance 2, a team started in 2002 and jointly operated with Dale Earnhardt Inc. With that team, Earnhardt was co-owner of the 2004 and 2005 Nationwide Series championship teams with driver Martin Truex Jr. Truex’s accomplishments mirrored those of Earnhardt, who dominated the 1998 and 1999 Nationwide Series seasons, winning two championships and 13 races. As a driver, he has an additional nine Nationwide Series victories in 41 starts since 1999, and his 22 total career victories tie him for ninth on the all-time Nationwide Series win list. Fans and media selected him as one of the top-three Nationwide Series drivers of all-time in a 2006 NASCAR poll.

With crossover appeal unmatched by any other athlete, Earnhardt continues to garner media attention worldwide. In 2009, he appeared on country music’s biggest stage as a presenter at the 43rd annual CMA Country Music Awards. The live telecast on ABC was watched by 35.8 million viewers according to Nielsen Media Research. It marked Earnhardt’s first appearance at a major pop-culture awards show since he was a presenter at the 2002 MTV Music Awards.  

Earnhardt has appeared on more than 150 magazine covers and has been featured in high-profile publications such as Rolling Stone, GQ, Men’s Journal, Sports Illustrated, People magazine and TV Guide. He has been a guest on “60 Minutes,” “The Late Show with David Letterman,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “The Today Show,” “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” “The Jimmy Kimmel Show,” “Good Morning America,” “Live with Regis and Kelly” and “Larry King Live.”

Earnhardt’s eclectic taste in music is reflected in the diverse list of artists that have featured him in their music videos, including Jay-Z, Staind, Sheryl Crow, Three Doors Down, Trace Adkins, O.A.R., the Matthew Good Band and Nickelback. He has played cameo roles in major motion pictures “Talladega Nights” and “Cars” and was the subject of an episode of MTV’s “Diary” and VH1’s “Driven.” In 2004 he played a cameo role on the CBS sitcom “Yes Dear.” In 2001, he added best-selling author to his résumé with “Driver 8,” a documentation of his rookie season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The book landed on the New York Times best-seller list for 17 weeks, and online retailer Amazon.com named “Driver 8” the top-selling sports book of the year.

In its October 2008 issue, BusinessWeek magazine named Earnhardt to its top 100 most influential people in sports, ranking him 38th overall. The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer listed him among the top-10 most powerful people in NASCAR in 2007. In recent polls and surveys, he received a top-five “Q” rating among all athletes and rated among the top-five athletes in corporate endorsements by Forbes magazine.

Earnhardt’s business savvy extends beyond the track. In 2006, he started Hammerhead Entertainment, a one-stop-shop production company that has produced shows for multiple national television networks, including “Back in the Day” on SPEED Channel, and “Dale Jr. – Shifting Gears” on ESPN. “Shifting Gears” was a five-part documentary in 2008 that chronicled Earnhardt’s move to Hendrick Motorsports and gave unique insight into the chaotic world of “Little E.” In April 2008, Earnhardt extended his entrepreneurship into the Charlotte, N.C., entertainment scene, as he opened Whisky River, an uptown bar and nightclub located in the Charlotte EpiCentre.  

While the obligations of being a driver and team owner occupy much of his time, Earnhardt is active in charities and non-profit organizations. In 2007, he launched The Dale Jr. Foundation, a charity dedicated to giving underprivileged individuals, with a focus on youth, the resources to improve their confidence and education. Through 2009, The Dale Jr. Foundation has contributed to more than 700 local and national organizations. He also is involved with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  

Earnhardt’s hobbies include hanging out at home, listening to music, computer gaming and continuously quenching his thirst for NASCAR history. He has a small golf course, three go-kart tracks and a vintage Western-style town on his property near Mooresville, N.C.