Smoke, Rowdy, Intimidator, and the King. Yes, they are some NASCAR nicknames for drivers that have ruled the tracks over the years. However, apart from the drivers, their true companions also deserve a nickname. We are talking about the most indispensable part of their racing careers—their cars! And that’s why Dale Earnhardt Jr recently shared his unique take on naming cars.

In a recent episode of Dale Jr. Download, a fan asked Dale Earnhardt Jr if he has ever named his car. While replying to this, an enthusiastic Earnhardt Jr said, “Oh, yeah. We had one called Mud 5, we had one called East Coast Drifter…everybody remembers Amelia.

“We had the Red-headed Stepchild, which was our short track car with a drop snout and we won a lot of races with that in 1998-99. The Gossamer car, we called that car Gossamer. We won one race with it, raced it once, and dominated.”

Furthermore, he shared that his old Sundrop car, which he raced in the 90s, was named Ralph. Hence, when he recently raced the car at North Wilkesboro last year, it had Ralph written all over it.

Moreover, he assured his fans that Ralph would be back again this year.

Why naming cars is a ‘must’ for NASCAR drivers as per Dale Jr

According to Dale Earnhardt Jr, naming cars is a must for drivers who had spent a lot of time behind the wheel. Explaining how every car has its own set of behaviors, he said, “Naming cars was a lot of fun and almost a must when you raced the car enough, right? When you took that car and ran it for a year or more, you would develop this sort of track record of performance and behaviors.

“That car was tight in the middle always, really loose in – whatever those behaviors that this car seemed to have would sometimes determine the name.”

However, Earnhardt Jr said that the tradition vanished soon when the teams started building cars every three or four months. He said that for a team like his, they would race a mile and a half or short track once or twice and then sell the car to another team (#51 team). Hence, naming the car became pointless as the driver did not get enough time to form an attachment to it.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr feels that the Next-Gen can bring the naming tradition back

Although Dale Earnhardt Jr had criticized NASCAR over the several safety issues posed by the new Next-Gen cars, he feels that maybe these cars can bring the naming tradition back.

He said, “But now, I think with the current Next-Gen car, it’s possible the names could come back. Because these center cages could stick around for a long time, right? These teams could race these chassis or the basic nucleus of the chassis for a while.

“I’d always encouraged names for cars because you would have an attachment for it and that would make you more invested. And anything that invests you more emotionally and personally is a good thing. “

READ MORE: Dale Earnhardt Jr Reveals “Bucket List” Entry That Was Made a Reality by the Most Successful Non-American Stock Car Racer

It’s true that naming a car would definitely bring in a sense of emotional attachment between the driver and the car. Moreover, another plus side to the practice could be that the audience might actually enjoy identifying the cars with their creative nicknames instead of plain bland numbers.