The 2017 Ford EcoBoost race at Homestead-Miami Speedway was emotional and celebratory for Dale Earnhardt Jr. This race marked his final Cup Series start, but this is the race where his dear friend Martin Truex Jr won his first and only NASCAR Cup Series championship. Although Dale Jr had a memory racing career, he never reached the pinnacle of NASCAR racing but was glad to see his friend have his crowning moment.

And now that Truex Jr has announced his retirement from NASCAR racing at the end of the 2024 season, Dale Jr reminisces about his favorite Martin Truex Jr memory, which came at Homestead.

Dale Earnhardt Jr unravels the heartfelt moment between him and Truex Jr

MTJ pulled off arguably the biggest catch in the NASCAR Cup Series, winning the championship with a single-car team, Furniture Row Racing. To win against the powerhouse teams and star drivers was a big deal for the driver back then, and hence, Truex Jr etched his name in the history books. However, when he was in the victory lane about to cherish his storied moment, he was awaiting his friend’s presence, and that gesture itself was enough to melt Dale Jr’s heart.

Dale Earnhardt Jr took a stroll down memory, reliving those exact moments when he quickly overturned his emotions about running his last race to congratulate his friend on his triumphant run. “You had a microphone on. It was a microphone that sticks on with a needle, and you had it on backwards, and the needle went right through my hand. You said, Hey man be careful, I got this mic. This thing is sticking out. I’m like, Yep, I just got it. I never got to know what it was to win at the level. Win championship at that level, and I was so happy that you got to do that.” Jr said in a video shared by Dirty Mo Media.

He further went on to highlight how MTJ was looking for him in the victory lane to celebrate the moment together. “A friend that’s in the NASCAR production sent me this little clip, and you’re on stage. You said to somebody next to you, Where’s Dale? In everything that’s going on in your world in that moment for you to think of me and wonder where I was at and when I’m going to come over and see you, meant the world to me, man.” He added.

Well, the duo certainly have a special bond, one that started when Dale Jr scouted him to be his next driver for his team at Chance 2 Motorsports. But their friendship truly blossomed when Martin had to move in with Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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Dale Jr invited Truex Jr to live with him in the initial years of his racing career

In 2003, Dale Jr had his first introduction to MTJ at Richmond during a tire test at Richmond. Seeing Truex run the laps, he wanted him to run for his team, Chance 2 Motorsports. The next year, he was signed to the team for his first full-time season in the Busch Series, driving the No. 8 Chevy. But little did Dale Jr know back then that his connection with Truex Jr would cultivate a bond of friendship between them.

Sharing the memories of their early days together, Dale Jr via DJD shared, “When we were going to run him full-time, and he’s going to have to move here, he moved into my house, and lived just down the hallway from me. In the upstairs modular home that I had.” Even when Truex Jr was able to make enough money to rent a house of his own, he chose to bunk at one of Dale Jr’s properties, where they did have a good time.

“We spent a ton of time, a ton of time drinking in the basement, going to bars in the middle of the week, hanging out on the back porches, running around on the farm being idiots. You know, we had a lot of fun,” Dale Jr vividly recalled. Despite the JGR driver calling quits from competitive racing, he had hinted that he might be back for some races. Well, if we are to guess, the Daytona 500 looks like the first option that he would choose to run. What do you think?