USA Today via Reuters
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
USA Today via Reuters
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Even in racing royalty, questions of talent arise. Dale Earnhardt Sr. has created an evergreen legacy in motorsports, with his achievements in NASCAR inspiring multiple generations of racers. The profound impact reaches into his own family, which comprises many other skilled drivers. Some took up the wheel for longer while others briefly drove before going full-time into business. Dale Sr.’s daughter belongs to the latter category, with little recognition from the younger generation.
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A debate inside Dale Earnhardt’s family
“Wyatt judges my career based off of stats. And because I didn’t have a win anytime it’s brought up, he says um well mom you never won. You never won. So he doesn’t have much to say about my racing career, and it aggravates me at times. But you know, we just move on. And then you realize he’s a teenage boy. And then I’m like, you just don’t know. You just don’t know,” Kelley Earnhardt Miller said in a Dale Jr. Download episode.
Despite Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s complaints, Kelley Earnhardt Miller pursued a racing career. She defied her 7-time Cup Series champion father’s words and raced late-model stock cars at regional venues such as Hickory Motor Speedway and Myrtle Beach Speedway back in the mid-1990s. She quickly gained a reputation among peers for her challenging presence. But before her career could take flight, Kelley quit racing in 1996 after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Now, Kelley Earnhardt‘s son, Wyatt Miller, is paving a path in Late Model racing. Last year in March, he clinched his first Limited Late Model race win at Hickory Motor Speedway, the same track where his mother used to race. There can be no doubt about the 13-year-old’s talents.
However, he may not be able to fully grasp the talents of his mother, now the CEO and co-owner of JR Motorsports, Kelley Earnhardt Miller, as well. Nevertheless, Kelley is proud of her son’s growth. She sees the spirit of her father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., live on in her son.
“You know, I know it feels and sounds kind of cliché, but I do see just the tenacity that he has when he gets in the race car, and the determination he has reminds me a lot of my dad. He just has it, and I don’t know if it’s from which side of the family,” she said.”He’s definitely got something that’s innate, and yeah, just very cool. At the same time, he’s just a kid when it comes to it.”
While Kelley Earnhardt Miller ponders her past racing life, she is also focused on the present.
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Envisioning bright success for a second time
Last year, Kelley Earnhardt Miller executed a remarkable feat. JR Motorsports, under her aegis, put its first Cup Series entry in the Daytona 500. Justin Allgaier not only qualified with the No. 40 Chevrolet, but he also wheeled it to a 9th-place finish. And the team is gearing up for round two at the 2026 iteration of the Great American Race.
Justin Allgaier‘s sweet ride again features Stapleton Whiskey’s paint scheme. In mid-January, the team unveiled the colors, a mix of white, orange, and fiery red, and Kelley Earnhardt Miller could not stop her excitement. “I didn’t think it could get any better…but it did🔥”, she wrote.
And Allgaier is already focused on his goal. “We know that we are in the same position this year that we were last year, meaning that we will need to qualify our way into the 500,” he said at the end of 2025. “Hopefully, we can take care of that on Wednesday night during qualifying, but I know regardless we are going to have an extremely fast Traveller Chevrolet that will gives us a great chance to either lock in during qualifying, or race our way in like last year during the duels.”
Clearly, Dale Earnhardt’s family is achieving a lot in different spheres. Let’s wait and see what awaits them in the 2026 season.
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