It’s been five years since fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr retired from the NASCAR Cup Series. But thankfully for fans, he hasn’t disappeared from public view. From occasional Xfinity races, weekly podcasts, and a recent Mazda MX5 test run at the Martinsville Speedway, it feels like he has never been away. On top of that, he began a new series chronicling the journey of the ‘Intimidator‘ in his rookie season with Rod Osturlund Racing in 1979.

While researching Dale Sr’s comeback from his Ponoco injuries, Junior called up another Hall of Famer who raced that year. In that call, Dale Jr became just another NASCAR fan excited at the prospect of speaking with Bill Elliot.

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Dale Jr had grown up watching his father’s enviable career. He is accustomed to interacting with legendary sportspersons and one would think he is immune to being starstruck by now. But the recent episode of The Dale Jr. Download proved otherwise. While discussing Episode 7 of Becoming Earnhardt, he recounted, trying to piece together the next race at Dower International Speedway.

“We’re closing in on the end of the season. Dad’s back at back at the wheel of his race car after the injuries at Pocono and he is just trying to get some results. He is kind of struggling with his endurance which is interesting and there is a couple we talked about how Bill Elliott was asked to go to Dower.”

He further recalled facing difficulty in retrieving information about Dale Sr’s race at Dower. And, decided to contact Elliot Sr. for an eyewitness account.

“I called Bill, I said, ‘Hey, Bill!’ I said, ‘Man, I can’t really find a bunch of information anywhere.”

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Even before he made the call, Junior felt in awe of the veteran racer. He couldn’t quite believe that Bill Elliott answered his call. And that he would actually get a chance to ask him about his racing days with Earnhardt Sr.

“It’s pretty cool when you get Bill Elliott on the phone man, Bill Elliott answers the phone, it’s really bada**. He, you call a hall of famer champion like that and he answers, it’s a good feeling.”

Understandably, Bill Elliot’s memory was a little foggy about a race that took place 40 years ago. That, however, didn’t dampen Dale Jr’s enthusiasm for covering that season in memory of the Intimidator.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. reveals the real reason he is documenting his father’s rookie season

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Dale Earnhardt Jr and his sister Kelly Earnhardt Miller have been leafing through the pages of history. They intend to glean more insight into the season that won their father the Rookie-of-the-Year award. But Junior insists that’s not the only reason he chose the year 1979. Explaining the significance of the year, he said,

“The 1979 NASCAR season was the most important season in NASCAR history…I bet when people went to Riverside for that first race, they had no idea how important that race was going to be.”

He further detailed the coincidence of the Daytona 500 being telecasted on network television, the same year Dale Sr debuted in the Winston Cup.

“This snowstorm on the East Coast that has everybody stuck in the house the first flag-to-flag coverage of Daytona 500 on a network television. You had what three channels I mean every third house on the street at least was on the Daytona 500. They had 16 million or some people watching that race.”

In the process of uncovering this information, he realized that the Daytona 500 took the spotlight in 1979. But because of that, many hidden gems got buried. He aims to unearth the rich history of the year that catapulted NASCAR toward the popularity it enjoys today.

“I can’t think of anything that did more to grow the sport, expand the sport, introduce the sport to more people than that year…we’ve hung on to those fans ever since.”

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