Picture this: a wide-eyed teenager, barely old enough to vote, strapping into a stock car to face off against NASCAR’s grizzled veterans in the Cup Series. It’s a tall order, and more often than not, these young guns find themselves spinning their wheels—literally and figuratively.

It’s a pattern that shows raw talent isn’t enough; it takes time, maturity, and a bit of racing wisdom to truly shine at the top level.

Enter Dale Earnhardt Jr., a name that carries the weight of NASCAR royalty, who’s now stirring the pot with a bold vision to change how young drivers climb the ladder. On a recent episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. Earnhardt Jr. laid out a plan that’s got everyone talking—he wants to nurture the next ‘Mark Martin,’ a driver whose patient journey through the ranks turned him into a legend with 40 Cup Series wins.

As a team owner and mentor, Dale Jr. is ready to rewrite the playbook, making sure the sport’s rising stars get the time they need to bloom. Let’s unpack his big idea and take a stroll down memory lane to see how Dale Jr. himself navigated the bumpy road of a young racer.

During his chat on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Harvick tossed out a question about the right age for drivers to hit the Cup Series: “Where do you think the age thing kind of falls into?” Dale Jr. didn’t miss a beat, replying, “I feel like that we have all learnt that each driver is different but you look at William Byron, Joey Logano, those guys got kind of thrown into the Cup level at a very young age and fortunate enough for them, there was enough people in the industry to believe in them over the course of time that it took them to find their way.”

Take Joey Logano, for example—the kid was just 18 when he hit the Cup Series in 2008, hyped up as the “best thing since sliced bread.” But early on? He struggled to keep up, only finding his groove nearly a decade later, snagging his first championship in 2018 at 28. William Byron’s story isn’t much different—debuting at 20 in 2018, he wrestled with consistency for years before emerging as a real contender by 2023 at 25.

And it’s not just the two of them. The Xfinity and Truck Series’ winningest driver, Kyle Busch, started out early. It went to the extent of forging documents! But did that mean his skill wasn’t on par with drivers? Hear it from Joe Gibbs himself. “The first time I ever heard about Kyle, my son was racing Trucks, and I call him after practice, and he says, he’s 3/10ths faster than everybody else and he says, I hope he gets thrown out because I don’t think he’s old enough and sure enough that’s what happens.” However, Junior’s points still stands. These Cup Series winners could be exception.

He went on to propose a slower climb: “I feel like you could spend at least two years in each level, two years in the CARS Tour, two years in the Truck, two years in Xfinity to truly get to be where you need to be, before you get to the cup level… It’s a money game, and almost for everyone it is a pay-to-play.” Now, pay drivers are no secret. If you have the money, you get the drive. It’s the bitter truth. And we saw it with Paul Menard. But that’s what Junior wants to change.

This isn’t just talk—Dale Jr.’s got the clout to make it happen as co-owner of JR Motorsports, where he’s already mentoring young drivers. He’s taking a page out of Mark Martin’s book, a driver who didn’t hit his stride until his 30s but then raced like a lion well into his 50s. And what Dale’s talking about could make sense. Take a look at Carson Hocevar. His antics this season have already turned him into a villain for some drivers.

And the solution Junior suggested to Harvick is something he sees with Hocevar as well. “I don’t have a whole lot of confidence that that’s gonna happen anytime soon. I think that it will. But I’m telling you, man, we expect way too much out of these guys. We put them in Cup cars at 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 years old.” 

Speaking of young prodigies, let’s see what Dale Jr.’s daughters did to add to the Earnhardt legacy.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s daughters make him proud

When Junior got married, he knew wanted to be a parent. “I think we will go off on instinct. We will make mistakes. But hopefully we raise a great kid. I’m certain Amy will have a lot to do with her being amazing and I’ll try not to be too bad of an influence,” he said at the time. It seems his racing heritage has certainly rubbed off on his daughters.

During a podcast with his wife Amy, the couple revealed their daughters had a NASCAR day at school. Wearing a Dale Sr. themed T-shirt, Nicole was ready to leave her classmates in the dust. Everyone was wearing small cars to keep up with the theme. Then came the race.

Dale revealed, “Nicole can absolutely tell that this is a competition. And you can tell from the moment it starts, she’s like I’m out to win. The other kids are like, ‘Oh, we’re just playing. Hey, I’m having fun. ‘I’m running. I got my little car.’ But Nicole was like, this is a race, I’m out to win it. So she takes off running,g and they had a little caution so they slow down and they walk, and the green flag comes out, and she runs again. She got a little wide around the track. This girl in second just closed the gap and passed her, and it was like—woke her up. She was like, ‘Oh man, I have been passed,’ and then she fired off. And then went back to the inside and got underneath the leader and past her and wins the race.” 

And while Isla didn’t win, both kids could carry the Earnhardt name on the track.