“That Countdown to E-Day Was Very Nauseating” – Dale Earnhardt Jr on the Infamous Marketing Campaign Ahead of His NASCAR Cup Debut

Today, we all look back at Dale Earnhardt Jr as one of the biggest superstars in the sport’s history. Of course, one needs to look further than the fact that he won the most popular driver award for 15 years in a row from 2003 until his retirement in 2017. However, Earnhardt Jr. was already a superstar even before he put in his first lap in a Cup race.

Now, yes, he is Dale Earnhardt’s son, but when was the last time, or any time in NASCAR’s history, that a driver’s debut in the Cup Series had an entire marketing campaign behind it? Because for Junior there was. It was called ‘E-Day’, it came from Budweiser, and it ran for the first half of 1999 in anticipation of his debut.

However, today, Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t remember the whole E-Day thing as fondly.

Dale Earnhardt Jr claims ‘E-Day’ was a nauseating experience

In a recent episode of his podcast show, Earnhardt Jr. touched upon the time in his life when he was gearing up for his Cup debut in 1999, which had a whole marketing campaign by Budweiser going for it, the ‘E-Day.’ Over two decades later today, Junior claimed ‘E-Day’ wasn’t as pleasant.

“That countdown to E-Day was very nauseating. I even get nauseous thinking about it now but I wasn’t even that uncomfortable as I am today about things like that,” he described. “But we were kind of like, ‘Man, we’re living the life! This is wild. This is freaking awesome!”

“It’s like walking up to a cliff. ‘Oh this is nothing, we’re good.’ You get up there and you look down and you’re like, ‘Holy s**t!’ That was like, race day was looking off the edge of the cliff going, ‘Holy s**t.'”

There hasn’t been something like E-Day before or since

Even though Earnhardt Jr doesn’t have fond memories about the whole ‘E-Day’ countdown campaign, it goes without saying that it was not only a unique marketing campaign for any driver by a sponsor, it hasn’t really been seen before or since, at least not to that level.

“I don’t remember anyone coming in who’s gotten this much attention,” Ned Jarrett said back in 1999 ahead of Junior’s debut as per NASCAR. “It’s unusual to say the least. We might not ever see it again.”

So even though Earnhardt Jr’s debut ended with a 16th place finish, which he would follow with four more starts that year before running full time from the following season, one thing was clear from ‘E-Day’, Dale Earnhardt Jr would turn out to be one of the biggest names in the modern era of NASCAR.

And that’s exactly what happened.