For many years, he was simply “Little E,” the son of the Intimidator, carrying the weight of an iconic name as he charted his own path from the short tracks of the Southeast. He cut his teeth not in the glitz of NASCAR’s top series, but in the trenches of weekly Late Model Stock Car racing throughout the early-to-mid-1990s.
His talent rapidly began to assert itself in the Busch Grand National Series. The stage was set for a breakout, and he delivered emphatically by winning back-to-back Busch Series Championships in 1998 and 1999, driving the No. 3 AC Delco Chevrolet for his father’s new team, Dale Earnhardt Inc. However, Junior has recently recounted one incident that he will never be able to forget from his rookie days.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. recalls a race that tested his physical and men