Throwback to When Dale Earnhardt Jr. Appeared in Two Super Bowl Commercials in 2004

Soumyadeep Saha | 02/02/2024
Sprint Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) waits out a rain delayed start of the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is arguably one of the front-faces of NASCAR. Fittingly, this veteran, also known as the Pied Piper of Daytona, won the NMPA Most Popular Driver Award consecutively each year from 2003 to 2017 and was also inducted into the prestigious Hall of Fame. However, Junior’s popularity skyrocketed in 2004 when he featured in a pair of commercials, that ranked 7th and 10th most popular commercials according to USA Today’s Ad Meter.

The first one was for Junior’s longtime sponsor Budweiser. The ad shows Junior saying goodbye to a beautiful lady (seemingly someone Junior was doting on) who is supposed to fly to Los Angeles. However, as the plane departed and Earnhardt sat in his car to drive back home, he found that the lady had left her lipstick behind. Showcasing the speed of his red Chevrolet Monte Carlo, he drove all the way to LA to give the lady her lipstick back, only to find out it wasn’t hers.

The second commercial was for Dale Jr’s new title sponsor for 2004, Nextel Communications. The curtains to the ad parted with Junior sitting in the grandstands of an NFL game, fantasizing about scoring in his #8 Chevy. The coach used a Nextel walkie-talkie and told Junior, “Earnhardt, you’re in”. Needless to say, Earnhardt roared across the field and registered the winning touchdown. But alas, it was all in his head.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. teases the fans

NASCAR’s documentary, which was recently released on Netflix, has taken the fans into a frenzy. Before it had even made it to the online streaming platform, constant teasers and trailers kept the fans expecting a power-packed and thrilling experience and needlessly said that’s exactly what they were served.

The first season revolves around the 2023 playoffs and is bundled up into five less-than-an-hour episodes. But is that even enough? The masterpiece surely left the fans wanting for more and on that note, Earnhardt wrote on X, “Let me know what ya think! Too early to start suggestions for season 2? “

Someone commented,

 

While another wrote,

 

A fan demanded that the series cover the entire season and not just the playoffs. They wrote:

 

While another demanded more drivers to be covered:

 

Safe to say, the one demand that everyone can agree on having is,

 

Take note speed enthusiasts; the executive director might be taking in suggestions for the upcoming season.

Post Edited By: Ankit Sharma
Dale Earnhardt Jr.

About the author

Soumyadeep Saha

Soumyadeep is a motorsport journalist at the Sportsrush. While preparing for his PhD in English literature back in 2021, the revving of stock cars pulled him towards being a full-time NASCAR writer. And, he has been doing it ever since. With over 500 articles to his credit, Soumyadeep strives every single day to bring never-heard-before stories to the table in order to give his readers that inside scoop. A staunch supporter of Denny Hamlin, Soumyadeep is an amateur bodybuilder as well. When not writing about his favorite Joe Gibbs Racing icon, he can be seen training budding bodybuilders at the gym or snuggled in a beanbag watching anime.

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