“I was shocked” - When Dale Earnhardt Jr. proposed to take $1,000,000 pay cut to aid Rick Hendrick 

Five years ago, Dale Earnhardt Jr. discussed the unexpected offer he made to Rick Hendrick, team owner of Hendrick Motorsports (HMS).

Earnhardt Jr. moved to HMS in 2008 after leaving his late father's team, Dale Earnhardt Inc. The following year, he offered to take a $1 million pay cut to help the team after the global financial crisis.

During an episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast in September 2019, Hendrick explained his shock at Earnhardt’s offer (via USA Today).

"The only driver that ever I’ve been associated with in all my years that said, ‘Hey, I want you to take a million off my salary and give it to the guys in the shop. Don’t have to cut anybody’s pay. I’ll give up a million dollars.’ Nobody else, ever. Pretty amazing... I was shocked. That just shows you the character that he has and his relationship with people,” Hendrick said.

Earnhardt Jr., who now co-owns JR Motorsports with Hendrick, also shared the worry about their team members possibly losing their jobs or having their pay cut.

"I called [Mr. Hendrick] one time — I don’t remember what was going on in the sport, but something was happening in the sport where everybody was a little nervous. And I called him one time and told him to take a million dollars off my salary if he needed to,” Earnhardt Jr. said.

Earnhardt Jr. retired from full-time racing in 2017. He was named NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver 15 consecutive times, and won 26 races in the Cup Series and two championships in the Xfinity Series.

He started working as a broadcaster with NBC Sports in 2018 and will join Amazon Prime and TNT Sports next year to cover NASCAR races.

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"We had a good enough car to win the race" - Dale Earnhardt Jr. on driving the No. 8 at Florence

In November 2024, Dale Earnhardt Jr. returned to his famous red-and-black Budweiser No. 8 car in the South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway.

The 50-year-old had many big wins in the No. 8 car, including 17 victories from 1999 to 2007 and the 2004 Daytona 500. After 17 years, he ran the No. 8 Budweiser scheme from 40th to second place on November 23. However, due to an engine issue, he had to end his race early.

"I was thinking, man if we just finish in the top 10 I'd be pretty happy... Then I ended up driving up to second before half-way, and I was thinking, 'Shoot, this is turning into something else. This ain't about just trying to salvage a good run; we had a good enough car to win the race, I think," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said after the race. (00:15)

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will race in other Late Model Stock Car events this year and in 2025.