For two-time Daytona 500 champ Dale Earnhardt Jr., “Daytona” doesn’t just echo with cheers and checkered flags—it carries the weight of a heartbreak that never quite left the track. For over two decades now, this painful memory has stayed in the hearts of the NASCAR community. Now, Amazon Prime Video peels back the curtain on that legacy in its new four-part documentary. Offering a raw, emotional glimpse that doesn’t just revisit Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s iconic career but also the wreckage it left behind when NASCAR’s biggest star died on its biggest stage.

This isn’t just another motorsport documentary. This is memory, myth, and mourning woven together by Dale Earnhardt Jr., as he takes viewers back to the track that made his father, The Intimidator, a legend—and changed his own life forever. With the final two episodes releasing today, Dale Junior offers a candid glimpse at his quiet pilgrimage to the exact spot where his father’s life ended. And in doing so, a very heavy question was attempted to be answered. How do you make peace with a place that took everything from you?

A son’s silent stand

On February 18, 2001, Dale Earnhardt’s #3 Goodwrench slammed into the wall at Daytona International Speedway. Earnhardt was in third when he crashed, defending for his teammates, Michael Waltrip, in the lead, and son Dale Jr. in 2nd. The crowd erupted when Waltrip ended his 462 race winless streak, but a deafening silence was heard when Earnhardt was taken away in an ambulance. That would be the last time Earnhardt ever raced, a basilar skull fracture proving fatal.

In 2001, Dale Junior returned to Daytona not as a driver, but as a son, still reckoning with the moment the sport he loved took something from him it could never give back. Prime Video’s ‘Earnhardt’ captures Dale Jr. reflecting on the emotions he felt while returning to the track. In a promotional video teasing the fourth episode of the show, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said, “I don’t know exactly where Daddy hit the wall. I don’t know exactly where his car came to rest, but I kind of came to that general area, and I just got out. My buddies, they all kind of got out for a second, but I just walked off by myself and stood around a little bit and just looked around and just didn’t even really think.” There’s something painfully human in the way he describes it—how his friends stepped away too, how he needed space not to react but to feel. He was there to see if the place would break him.

Junior had decided that he did not want anyone to see his emotions, adding, “I just was, just there. And I wanted, I think, really to see how I would feel. Would I get emotional? Would it be too much? Would it feel too heavy? Would I have a problem with it? I didn’t know. If I was going to have some kind of a reaction, I didn’t want to have it in front of everybody.” 

When Dale Earnhardt Jr. stood there in silence, he let his thoughts and emotions all flow through, and one memory stuck out. One that eased the pain he was feeling and removed any grudge he had towards the track. Junior added, “And I thought about it in that moment. I was like, you know, my dad loved racing here. He loved Daytona. And he loved winning there. He’s proud of it. I just had this feeling that I shouldn’t be mad at it. I shouldn’t dread going to Daytona.” Daytona International Speedway’s connection with Dale Earnhardt Sr. is more than just one fateful afternoon in 2001.

The Intimidator has more wins than any other driver at the track, with 34 victories across his career. However, the crown jewel Daytona 500 was a long time in the making. With multiple moments of heartbreak in the season-opening race, it took Earnhardt 20 years to finally taste triumph at the Great American Race, winning it in 1998, only to perish there three years later. Instead of collapsing under the weight of the memory, Junior chose to see the love that came before the loss. He understood the track didn’t take something away—it was where his father, the seven-time world champion, felt most alive.

That shift in mindset did not come easily. Dale Junior confesses that there was a strange sense of freedom in standing there, and that feeling haunted him with guilt. “I almost hesitate to say this because it isn’t going to make any sense to anybody. But there was this really strange feeling of freedom. And so I kind of decided then and there that I wasn’t going to hold anything against the track. And if anything, Daytona was maybe even more special because it’s where Dad had passed away.” But it made perfect sense to anyone who has ever grieved: letting go doesn’t mean forgetting, it’s accepting pain and finding the silver lining that keeps you going.

For Dale Junior, that day at Daytona marked a turning point. While Junior was slowly making peace with the place, the same couldn’t be said for everyone else, because when his father died, it wasn’t just the car that broke down. Something inside the Earnhardt family did, too.

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The Earnhardt family divide

It is no secret that the bond between the father-son duo has been complex and profound. “Once Dad recognized my driving talent, our relationship shifted. That’s when he had his arm around me. We did promotions together, photo shoots—I saw him all the time. We talked about life, girls, everything but racing. We didn’t talk about racing much, which was fine. And it was awesome.”

But the loss changed everything, not just for Dale Junior, but for the entire family. In the years since, tensions have been high, especially between Dale Junior, his sister Kelley, and their stepmom Teresa Earnhardt. The siblings have shared how strange they felt, even opening up about legal barriers to visiting their father’s grave.

Kelley Earnhardt Miller has revealed the painful exclusion they have faced. “We weren’t allowed to see sentimental possessions, childhood items, or family photos. Teresa prevented us from having any say in Dad’s funeral arrangements.” The bitterness of these family fractures is definitely in contrast with the public adoration of the Earnhardt legacy.

Yet despite the hurt, Junior remains focused on honoring his father’s memory. With the new Amazon Prime documentary series shining a spotlight on the number 3 driver’s raw, real human side, beyond the legend on the track. The Earnhardt siblings hope to share the full story. A father, a family, and the complicated journey of love and loss behind the racing glory.

So, tuck in for an emotional ride as the last two episodes of Earnhardt drop on Thursday, revealing the emotional aftermath of Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s death.