Over the years, Dale Earnhardt’s life and legacy have inspired a steady stream of documentaries, books, and storytelling projects that continue to keep his impact alive long after his final race. ESPN’s 30 for 30 film, The Day: Remembering Dale Earnhardt, is still one of the most-watched motorsports documentaries ever. Now, for Intimidator’s fans, there’s something brand new to get excited about.

A stunning 160-page coffee-table book

The Daytona Beach News Journal just announced a big, beautiful tribute called “EARNHARDT! The Intimidator’s life, legacy and enduring popularity after 75 years.”

It’s 160 pages packed with rare photos, stories from teammates and rivals, and memories most fans have never seen.

The timing feels perfect. April 2026 would have been Dale’s 75th birthday, and it also marks twenty-five years since the 2001 Daytona 500.

The book follows his whole journey — growing up in a mill town in Kannapolis, his first Cup start in 1975, his first win at Bristol in 1979. His seventy-six victories, seven championships, and the switch to that famous black GM Goodwrench No. 3 in 1988 that turned him into the Intimidator for good.

It’s built as a heartfelt love letter to the man who changed NASCAR forever, full of pictures and stories that make you feel like you’re riding shotgun with him.

Right now, the book is only available for preorder at $35.95 (price jumps to $44.95 after release). It drops April 24, 2026, so it won’t be under the tree this Christmas, but it’ll be ready in plenty of time for the big anniversary. You can order it on ManInBlack.PictorialBook.com.

The cover shows Dale Earnhardt leaning against his blue and yellow No. 2 car, though the publisher says that the artwork might change before the final print. Either way, it’s shaping up to be the kind of keepsake fans will pull off the shelf for decades.

While the racing world looks back at the father, the son just made a little history of his own by not making any.

Dale Jr. ends a 29-year streak

For the first time since 1995, the name Earnhardt didn’t appear on a NASCAR entry list in 2025. Dale Jr. didn’t climb into a car even once, ending a streak that started when he was still a teenager running the Busch Series.

He debuted in 1996, won back-to-back Xfinity championships in 1998 and 1999, went full-time Cup in 2000, retired from full-time racing in 2017, and then kept the tradition by becoming one Xfinity start every year just to keep the fire burning.

Homestead 2020, a couple in 2021 and 2022, two in 2023, Bristol in 2024… and then nothing in 2025. JR Motorsports ran the No. 9 part-time and could have slipped him in anytime, but the helmet stayed on the shelf.

At fifty-one, Dale Jr. hasn’t said he’s done forever. The team plans to run the No. 9 again in 2026 and will rotate the No. 88 between Rajah Caruth and others. There’s always a seat if he wants it. But after almost thirty straight years of turning a lap in anger, taking a full year off feels like the end of an era all the same.

From a gorgeous new book celebrating the Intimidator’s seventy-fifth to his son quietly stepping away from the cockpit for the first time in three decades, 2026 is already shaping up to be a year of looking back and saying thank you to the Earnhardt name. One legend gets remembered in print forever, the other gets to enjoy the view from the pit box a little longer. Both feel exactly right.