Dale Earnhardt Jr. Blames Himself for Being Selfish About Family Decision, Expresses Regret Over Late Marriage

Dale Earnhardt Jr. met Amy Reimann in 2009 and married her in 2016. They have two beautiful children, Isla Rose, who was born in 2018, and Nicole Lorraine, born two years later. The family is happily settled in a house in Kannapolis, North Carolina. However, when Dale Jr. looks at his family today, he has but one regret.

It is that he did not begin creating this little world sooner. Dale Jr. got hitched when he was 42 years old.

In an interview with YouTuber and race car driver Cleetus McFarland, the NASCAR ace expressed his wish that he had married Amy and had kids with her earlier. The reason he gave is an absolute tearjerker.

“I’ll tell you. My age, right? I worry about my girls. When they graduate, I will be in my late 60s. I felt like having kids at my age… I know what it’s like to lose a parent when you’re young. Even in your 20s, you’re not really prepared. I felt like, ‘Shoot. I don’t want to bring a child into this world and leave them in their early 20s or even earlier.’ I don’t know what’s guaranteed for me,” said Dale Jr.

Junior admitted that his view might sound selfish, but it did make him realize the value of lost time.

“It’s a tough perspective. It’s selfish, maybe. I was stupid for waiting for as long as I did to figure it out and get my life into this position,” he added. “I should have married Amy way sooner. I should have started our family sooner.”

Dale Jr. is a man without many regrets. So, when he opens up about one, it’s a sign that he feels strongly about it.

“I know what it’s like to lose your parent when you’re young.” ⏳ @DaleJr & Cleetus look back at being a father and the perspective they gained along the way. pic.twitter.com/dLlahqjVpf

— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) February 20, 2025

Having lost his father, Dale Earnhardt, when he was only 26, it is natural that Junior has this fear of uncertainty. But at the end of the day, he understands that living fully in the current moment is more important than worrying about the future.

How did Dale Jr. and Amy meet back in 2009?

After graduating from college, Amy began working for an architecture firm in Jacksonville, Florida, as an interior designer. It was at this time that she met Dale Jr. when he’d employed her firm to design the house they currently live in. She remembers how they had made teasing eye contact during their first meeting at JR Motorsports.

“I wasn’t looking. I don’t think he was looking. He hardly looked up from the plans that at one point I’m talking about something, I don’t remember what it was, and he turned over and we made eye contact. I was like, ‘What was that’?” Amy said in an interview with former racer Kenny Wallace.

Neither of them knew at the time that things would progress to where it is now. About six months later, they met again during a party at Whisky River, Charlotte. They hung out and ended up talking all night. Seven years of courtship later, they exchanged vows on December 31, 2016.