Dale Earnhardt Jr. partnered with a Stapleton in 2025. For the JR Motorsports No. 40 Cup Series entry, the NASCAR veteran joined hands with Chris Stapleton, an 11-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and musician. This union was for entering the prestigious Daytona 500 race – and it is rejuvenating for the 2026 edition. However, Dale Jr. did not strike a bond with another Stapleton – and fans are not surprised.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. gets called out

“Almost two years ago now Dirty Mo Media wanted to acquire me/my channel and it almost happened. We couldn’t come to terms with something that made sense to both parties. The effort was made…but some things just don’t line up. Dale unfollowed me on X shortly after that fizzled. I have never met him in person or had any discussions with him directly about it so I have no idea what his people told him about why it didn’t work out. I might be on a s— list for something I never did 😂,” Mitch Stapleton, a popular NASCAR YouTuber, wrote recently.

Dale Jr.’s Dirty Mo Media studio is the most popular platform for NASCAR at present. It runs eight major podcasts, notably including Denny Hamlin‘s ‘Actions Detrimental’, ‘Door Bumper Clear’ featuring Freddie Kraft and Co., and also ‘The Teardown’ hosted by The Athletic reporters Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi. Since 2013, Dirty Mo has been at the center of the sport’s media landscape, accruing over $300 million in valuation.

So naturally, Mitch Stapleton, aka Stapleton42 on YouTube, was crestfallen when his proposed deal with Dale Earnhardt Jr. fell through. Stapleton boasts a fairly large fanbase as well, who enjoy his content. 367,000 subscribers follow his videos on YouTube, where he posts videos about cars and motorsports stories with first-hand interviews. He also dives into private collections, former race shops, and museums. Having grown up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Stapleton does not hail from a racing family.

“When I moved to NC and started doing the NASCAR video stuff a few years ago I always kept my head down with an open mind about everything. Since then I can say there are some GREAT people out there who have really surprised me. There’s far less snakes in the grass…but they’re damn good at hiding themselves. Nobody talks about it until they know you also know. It is a very strange ecosystem,” Stapleton wrote on X this November.

Despite his long journey in creating NASCAR content, Mitch Stapleton never got a deal from Dale Jr. However, fans are not so sympathetic.

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Fans call out in return

Although Dale Jr. may be at the height of success in NASCAR, he is still a much-loved personality. Hence, Mitch Stapleton’s ‘unfair’ claims about the 26-time Cup Series race winner did not delight fans so much. So somebody downplayed Stapleton’s hopes for a partnership: “I feel like a DirtyMo run Stapleton42 channel would have sucked.” Another fan injected a sarcastic flavor, complaining about why this counted as news. After all NASCAR is gearing up for a feisty 2026 season: “Im glad we have mega threads so we can keep space for this kind of stuff instead of news about NASCAR.”

Then other fans went on to take sly jibes at Mitch Stapleton’s hopes. Not only did the YouTuber’s failure to get a deal with Dirty Mo Media fail to attract sympathy, but it also attracted reality checks. One fan wrote, “I too have never met Dale Jt personally, and I also don’t have a media deal with Dirty Mo Media. AMA.” Big media entities like SiriusXM and even rival series like IndyCar have partnered with Diry Mo. So somebody else took it up a notch and pretended to sympathize with Stapleton. “Dale replied to a comment of mine here once, so we’re pretty close, and yet even I haven’t gotten a Dirty Mo partnership.”

Another fan was more direct and scrutinized Mitch Stapleton’s content – a possible reason for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s dismissal. It was a fair take and offered mixed opinions about the meat of the content and its delivery. “Stapleton42 has some good content. I enjoy seeing the shops and history. He just has a really dry personality / delivery. Kind of Chase Elliot style.”

Clearly, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s fans are not convinced about Mitch Stapleton’s grievous story. Let’s wait and see if Dale Jr. changes his mind about Stapleton or not.