Dale Earnhardt Jr. Barely Spoke During Super Awkward First Date With Future Wife Amy Reimann

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his wife Amy Earnhardt began their journey together more than a decade and a half ago, thanks to a chance meeting. Once they got to know each other, their relationship blossomed. However, as Amy revealed recently, their first date was not exactly an occasion where they got to know much about each other. All thanks to Junior’s starting trouble.

Dale Jr. and Amy Reimann (back then) met in 2009 when the NASCAR star hired her interior design firm to spruce up his home in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Meetings around the project planted the seed. However, the two went their separate ways once work wrapped up.

Roughly six to eight months after the project ended, they reconnected and headed out for dinner with Dale Jr.’s sister, Kelley Earnhardt Miller. The evening later moved to Junior’s bar, Whiskey River, where the pair spent hours together. Amy looked back on those early moments during a recent fan Q&A and shared a story about their first outing.

According to her, if Dale Jr. had taken her to a prom, the night would have played out in near silence. “I know how our first date went, and that was when he was an adult, an accomplished adult. He probably would have been like this cute little nerd,” she said on the latest episode of the Bless Your Hardt’ podcast.

Junior pressed Amy to reveal what he actually said during their first date. “Nothing. There were no words except for it’s time to go,” Amy replied.

“We sat in this Mexican food restaurant that was an old church. I got black bean soup, [and] Dale got corn chowder or something. He ate his soup, and then he ate mine. And then when we got our plates, he inhaled his food,” she narrated.

“He stands up, puts $100 down on the table, and is like, all right, it’s time to go. I was like, are you kidding me? He’s like, ‘No, let’s go.’ And then the whole time we sat there, it was just super awkward. Like, I don’t know what to say to him. We’ve been hanging out a little bit, but it was just weird. He just, you know, gazed at me like I’ve said he does. He just stared at me and then ate my food and was like, ‘It’s time to leave,'” Amy concluded.

It’s surprising when we hear this story of Junior struggling to say much across a dinner table. Especially since he now spends hours speaking into a microphone on the Dale Jr. Download podcast. Life can indeed turn the tables.

As far as how their relationship shaped up after that first date… Evidently, sparks did fly. However, the couple chose to keep their relationship under wraps. For more than two years, they stayed out of the spotlight before stepping into public view together during the 2011 NASCAR Champions Week Awards Ceremony in Las Vegas.

Over the years, Amy has played a key role in helping Junior navigate through personal struggles away from the track. In the years following the loss of his father, Dale Earnhardt, he carried the weight of grief. Over time, Amy helped him work through that period and find steadier ground.

Her influence also helped him ace another battle. During a 2019 interview with Frontstretch, Dale Jr. said he began smoking at 22 while spending time with friends and a woman he was dating. But what began as a weekend habit soon took hold.

By the time he wanted to walk away from it, the habit had dug in its heels. Amy drew a line in the sand, making it clear that smoking would be a deal breaker in their relationship. Faced with that choice, Junior kicked the habit for good. Fast forward to the present, and they are one of NASCAR’s most popular couples.