The late Dale Earnhardt Sr. was embroiled in a fair share of controversies during his time, all while being hailed as the undisputable king of stock car racing. One of these controversies stemmed from a photograph showing him with his foot under the front valence/splitter during a technical inspection. The contention was that he was trying to lift the nose slightly with his foot to disrupt the measurements before a race and gain an advantage.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danny Lawrence, the director of Richard Childress Racing’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series program, were discussing this image in an episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast when the actual reason for the foot being under the front valence came to light. As it happens, there was no attempt by ‘The Intimidator’ to influence the measurements.
Dale Jr. said, “What he is truly doing in that picture is… back in the 80s and the 90s, the front valence height on the car was critical to how competitive your car was going to be. He would walk around, and he wanted to, if he could, take a tape and measure every car on the grid out there on the grid and the garage. But instead of doing that, he’d walk over and slide his foot under there.”
What he was trying to do was measure the valence height with the laces on his racing shoes. He would see what shoelace valence hit and walk off with more knowledge than he had. Dale Jr. continued, “That was his way of seeing if he was where he needed to be and where the competition was at.”
— Kirt Achenbach (@Kirt_Achenbach) February 5, 2026
During that era, officials checked the front ride height, the valence clearance, and the suspension compression under load. The controversy came from the idea that Earnhardt might have been lifting the nose or reducing how much the compression changed. Every tiny fraction could decide whether the car passed the inspection or not.
Furthermore, teams had a huge incentive to keep the valence height low. A lower nose would offer cars an aerodynamic advantage by reducing the air that passes underneath it. The biggest reason the image became symbolic was due to the reputation that Earnhardt had as someone who would go to every length to win a race.
It was also shot in the middle of a moment, making it look more deliberate than it actually might have been. NASCAR never gave him a penalty for this. And insiders contended that it was possibly exaggerated because of the angle. However, it was debated by the fans ever since. Hopefully, Dale Jr.’s explanation will put things to bed.
