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Dale Earnhardt Jr. Remembers Being Hated Like Bubba Wallace During Tough Periods in NASCAR Career

Jerry Bonkowski
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NASCAR Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace (23) speaks with TNT Sports hosts after winning the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, July 27, 2025, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Believe it or not, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Bubba Wallace share at least one thing in common in their respective racing careers: a massively long winless streak.

Wallace snapped a 100-race winless streak in this past Sunday’s Brickyard 400. But Junior was even worse: he once went 143 straight Cup races before making a triumphant return to victory lane.

Following a win at Michigan in 2008, Earnhardt would not win again until 2012 — coincidentally, back at Michigan International Speedway, 143 starts later.

I’ve been in those situations where you have a long dry spell and everybody’s talking sh*t, and that’s when people think you’re overrated,” Earnhardt said on this week’s edition of the Dale Jr. Download podcast. “They come out and they’re all like, ‘Yep, see he’s overrated, man, and he’s getting all this attention.’”

And with each additional race without a win, the criticism grew, with many fans feeling Junior wasn’t worth the attention he was being given, particularly by the TV networks.

“I heard it all through parts of my career,” Junior said. “You know, ‘Dale’s running 20th,’ but that’s all we’re going to see on the broadcast. We’re always going to have these Dale updates about where he’s running 20th.’

“I remember all that, I heard all that, and it wears on you a little bit. So when you finally get back to victory lane, I remember when I won at Michigan, I think it’s 2012. We had had this long dry spell. Jimmie Johnson comes into victory lane as expected, as he always would when his teammate won, and the first thing I said when I saw him is, ‘I’m a winner, man. I can’t believe it.’ And not so much like ‘I’m a winner, man,’ it was more like I AM a winner.”

Wallace questioned his ability several times during his 100-race winless streak. Junior was also the same way in his 143-race winless streak, the longest of his career.

“I had some pretty long dry spells in my career, but you don’t really question you,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “You think about it every now and then, ‘Man, is it really me? Nah, it can’t be me, I’m f*cking good. Yeah, it’s definitely not me. I can drive a car.’”

Will He Truly, Finally Make It To Victory Lane?

Earnhardt Jr. even doubted the closing laps of that 2012 Michigan race, wondering if he truly was going to win, or something would happen as it had time and time again during his winless streak.

That was the worst feeling, riding around there with 15 laps to go, wondering what was going to happen — how you were going to lose,” Earnhardt Jr. said at the time. “Those laps couldn’t go by fast enough.”

He beat Tony Stewart by nearly 5.4 seconds, a literal lifetime in NASCAR.

Junior not only thanked his team for helping him to the win, but he also thanked another group of people: his loyal fans.

“They stayed loyal,” he said. “As soon as I got out of the car, that was my initial thought — was about how many people were in their living rooms screaming at the top of their lungs, or running out in the yard, or whatever they do. I just wish I could see it all at once.”

Post Edited By:Srijan Mandal

About the author

Jerry Bonkowski

Jerry Bonkowski

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Jerry Bonkowski is a veteran sportswriter who has worked full-time for many of the top media outlets in the world, including USA Today (15 years), ESPN.com (4+ years), Yahoo Sports (4 1/2 years), NBCSports.com (8 years) and others. He has covered virtually every major professional and collegiate sport there is, including the Chicago Bulls' six NBA championships (including heavy focus on Michael Jordan), the Chicago Bears Super Bowl XX-winning season, the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs World Series championships, two of the Chicago Blackhawks' NHL titles, Tiger Woods' PGA Tour debut, as well as many years of beat coverage of the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA for USA Today. But Jerry's most notable achievement has been covering motorsports, most notably NASCAR, IndyCar, NHRA drag racing and Formula One. He has had a passion for racing since he started going to watch drag races at the old U.S. 30 Dragstrip (otherwise known as "Where the Great Ones Run!") in Hobart, Indiana. Jerry has covered countless NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA races and championship battles over the years. He's also the author of a book, "Trading Paint: 101 Great NASCAR Debates", published in 2010 (and he's hoping to soon get started on another book). Away from sports, Jerry was a fully sworn part-time police officer for 20 years, enjoys reading and music (especially "hair bands" from the 1980s and 1990s), as well as playing music on his electric keyboard, driving (fast, of course!), spending time with Cyndee his wife of nearly 40 years, the couple's three adult children and three grandchildren (with more to come!), and his three dogs -- including two German Shepherds and an Olde English Bulldog who thinks he's a German Shepherd.. Jerry still gets the same excitement of seeing his byline today as he did when he started in journalism as a 15-year-old high school student. He is looking forward to writing hundreds, if not thousands, of stories in the future for TheSportsRush.com, as well as interacting with readers.

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