Recently, NASCAR announced that Dale Earnhardt Jr is one of the 75 Greatest Drivers from the sport in the first 75 years of its existence. Junior joined his father, the great Dale Earnhardt, and his grandfather, Ralph Earnhardt on that list.

Dale Jr has already been inducted into the Hall of Fame as well in 2021.

But this one—him being a part of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers list—might perhaps mean a little bit more, something which his former crew chief Steve Letarte recently explained.

Steve Letarte on why Dale Earnhardt Jr being one of the 75 greatest drivers is a big deal

In a recent episode of The Dale Jr. Download, Steve Letarte officially announced that Junior was being counted as one of the 75 greatest drivers in the history of the sport. Letarte also added why this laurel holds more significance to him despite Earnhardt Jr’s status as a Hall of Famer.

“This is on behalf of NASCAR, the panel, and all of the fans, officially letting you know that you are gonna join your grandfather Ralph, and your father Dale as one of the greatest 75 drivers in the first 75 years of NASCAR,” the former crew chief said.

“I think what makes this very special is that while you’re already in the Hall of Fame, the Hall of Fame, the criteria for the Hall of Fame is your impact to the entire sport … it’s on the racetrack, it’s off the racetrack, as a team owner, as the most popular driver, that’s the Hall of Fame.

“This award for me, specifically is more special because this has nothing to do with all of this. This is purely what you did behind the wheel. 24 wins in Xfinity, 2 time champion back-to-back, 26 wins at the Cup level with 2 Daytona 500s,” he reasoned.

“So congratulations, you’re officially one of the 75 greatest drivers in the first 75 years of NASCAR.”

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Junior reacts to his new NASCAR laurel

Considering this was “a surprise,” Dale Jr was taken aback by the announcement from Steve Letarte. But he handled it with his ever-present grace and humility as he described what this honor means to him.

“I’ll tell you man, when they came out with the 50, years ago, I was … dad was a foregone conclusion to be on that list, but I was so honored that they put Ralph in that group considering that he hadn’t in the Cup level and hadn’t had that type of success at the Cup level at all,” he said. “I always wondered, where I ranked?”

Dale Jr added that he’s glad to learn “you mattered.” 

“I bust my a** to make a difference and be an asset in any way and every way I can. But to know that some of the stuff we did or what I did on the racetrack meant something is helpful for sure,” he claimed.

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