There comes a time in every hatchling’s life when they fly away from their protective nest to face the world on their own. For Dale Earnhardt Jr, that time came back when he made the brave decision to leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. and push himself harder at Hendrick Motorsports.

As with any life-changing decision, the transition was less than smooth and the Hall of Famer nearly hung his helmet. In a recent conversation with Kenny Wallace, Dale Jr shared the motivation and support granted by Rick Hendrick and his crew chief Steve Letarte.

When Dale Earnhardt Jr found himself on thin ice at Hendrick Motorsports

Dale Earnhardt Jr spent the first decade of his NASCAR career honing his craft in his father’s team, Dale Earnhardt Inc. After 17 wins and a career-best third-place finish, Junior moved to Hendrick Motorsports in his now iconic #88 Chevrolet. After a lone win in Michigan in his first year with HMS, Dale Jr struggled to retain his earlier form. After back-to-back season finishes outside the Top 20 in 2009 and 2010, the #88 driver was thoroughly demotivated and seriously considered retiring.

In the conversation shared by Kenny Wallace, Dale Jr recalled, “I was sitting there thinking, ‘Man, I don’t know how in the hell this is ever going to get turned around. I don’t know who could turn it around. I don’t know if it’s possible. I’m no longer under the wing of my father’s company. I’m out outside of that security and that safety net. I’m at HMS. There’s nowhere to hide if you can’t run good in that car. There’s no excuse.’ And so I was sitting there around 2011 and 12 thinking that I might wake up one day and my career could be over, whether I want it to end or not.”

Although Junior was grateful to Rick Hendrick and the entire HMS team for their constant encouragement, he couldn’t help comparing himself to his teammates, Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin. While Dale Jr finished 25th in 2009—the worst driver standing of his career—Martin won five races and finished as the season’s runner-up. The champion was, of course, HMS’s #48 driver, Jimmie Johnson. Dale Jr admitted, “Rick, to his credit, assured me we’re gonna keep working, we’re gonna keep trying.”

Watch this story: Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Emotional Rollercoaster

“I never felt from Rick Hendrick or anybody at Hendrick Motorsports that I was on thin ice but damn I know the results. I knew the success that my teammates might be having.” Perhaps the HMS team owner recognized his need for an overall shift in strategy. As a result, Steve Letarte became the crew chief of the #88 team and immediately sensed Junior’s dwindling confidence in himself. Letarte worked his magic and the #88 team finished 5th at the end of 2013. Moreover, Dale Jr won 4 races and scored 8 other Top 5 finishes in 2014. But how did this miraculous transformation occur? Junior explained Letarte’s process in detail.

Steve Letarte showed faith in his driver even when Junior had all but given up

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Steve Letarte, in his infinite wisdom, knew the mountain appeared huge from the bottom of a crevice. Instead, the #88 crew chief broke down smaller boulders to make the destination more achievable for his talented driver. Dale Earnhardt Jr continued relegating Kenny Wallace with his nostalgic tale and remembered Letarte’s patience and encouragement.

Dale Jr said, “I get put with Steve Letarte. Steve said, ‘Man, you’re finishing 20th in points or worse. You’re running like that every week. We’re gonna set a goal of 15th.’ And I was like, okay, he just expected 15th. He didn’t expect us to go run third. We started running 15th. When that started happening every single week, he said, ‘All right, we’re moving it to 10th. Buddy, it’s time to start finishing 10th or better.’”

Naturally, Letarte was not about to stop at a 10th-place finish. Junior confirmed, “[Letarte said] ‘Hey guess what? I want you to go the track and we’re going to expect to run 5th’…Steve put this progress in place that made sense and if you’re standing at the bottom of that hill in 2013 and he said hey look up that hill, one day we’re going to be running third, you’d go, damn how’s that possible? That’s gonna be hard to do. Well, over time we got there, we achieved it and then we were winning races, Daytona 500.”

Through the tireless efforts of Steve Letarte and the HMS team, Dale Earnhardt Jr finally flew on his own. His racing journey was inspirational for every little bird who had the strength for another flight but merely needed a helping hand to remind it.

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