Plenty of youngsters who aspire to reach NASCAR start their careers off on dirt racing tracks. Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell, for instance, did the same. But Dale Earnhardt Jr., one of the sport’s most popular drivers, did not delve into the discipline much as a youngster and instead chose to race on pavements. He reasoned why in a recent episode of Dale Jr. Download.
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Wyatt Miller, Junior’s nephew, made his Limited Late Model debut at the Hickory Speedway on March 8. This led to the question of why Junior never showcased much interest in dirt racing.
He answered by pointing out that he did race a Legend car at the Talladega Short Track once. He’d also raced at a dirt track behind the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The lack of interest in dirt racing in that area at the time influenced him a lot. He admitted that there were places he could go to race on dirt tracks. However, he chose not to do so.
He said, “Asphalt was where I wanted to be. I wanted to be in the NASCAR Series. So, going to dirt, in my mind, going to dirt racing was going to prolong my path.”
Back in 2022, Junior drove a late-model stock car as part of the North Wilkesboro Speedway’s revival. Following the race, he was asked if he would race there in dirt later that year.
Junior replied, “I don’t race dirt! I never have. I have no talent. Nobody would want to see that!” His aversion to the idea was clearly visible.
How did Wyatt Miller perform in his debut?
The upcoming generation of Earnhardt shined bright, with Miller finishing second in his debut at the Hickory Speedway. The son of L.W. Miller and Kelley Earnhardt Miller (Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s sister) battled against Wiliam Aldred in the 35-lap fixture before settling for a runner-up finish. Wyatt was plenty pleased with the result.
He said, “There at the end, I just tried to move him out of the way a little bit, but it didn’t work. Hats off to him. I want to thank JRM, all the guys that worked on this thing.” Hickory is a race track loaded with history for the Earnhardt family. Ralph Earnhardt, Wyatt’s great-grandfather, won five track championships there. Dale Earnhardt has won several races there as well.
His parents and his uncles, Junior and Kerry Earnhardt, have raced at the track, too. It will be interesting to see how the youngster moves himself to NASCAR from here.
