Dale Earnhardt's rival comes clean on Dale Jr. and stepmom Teresa’s relationship - “It wasn't good”

Former NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace touched on the relationship between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his stepmother, Teresa. Wallace reiterated that their relationship wasn't good, explaining why it wasn't extensively covered in Amazon Prime's new Earnhardt docuseries.

Following the passing of Dale Sr. in the 2001 Daytona 500, Dale Jr. and Teresa had disputes over the ownership of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI). He eventually left his father's race team to drive for Hendrick Motorsports in 2008 before DEI, under Teresa's ownership, ceased its NASCAR operations.

Kenny Wallace, who went head-to-head against Dale Sr. in the Winston Cup Series in the late 90s, addressed a fan wishing to see another episode in the four-part docuseries about the relationship between Dale Jr. and Teresa. He posted via his X account,

“I think @DaleJr said enough. It was not a good relationship 😳"

While Teresa Earnhardt is on the low, Dale Earnhardt Jr. continues to champion NASCAR as a team owner and podcast host. He owns a championship-winning Xfinity Series team called JR Motorsports alongside his sister, Kelley Earnhardt-Miller, and former HMS boss, Rick Hendrick.

Earnhardt Jr. also serves as a broadcaster on Prime's five-race NASCAR coverage. The media company debuted in the Coca-Cola 600 last Sunday, where the 50-year-old manned the commentary booth alongside Steve Letarte and Adam Alexander.

The Earnhardts during the 1990 Atlanta Journal 500 - Source: Getty

Next on the broadcast schedule is the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. It is one of Prime's NASCAR content, along with the Earnhardt docuseries and Kyle Larson's The Double documentary, which is expected to be released next year.

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“I panicked”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. on being misunderstood by Dale Sr. and stepmom Teresa about his passion

In an interview with NASCAR Insider Kelly Crandall, Dale Earnhardt Jr. explained one of the scenes in Amazon Prime's Earnhardt docuseries where he felt misunderstood. He said he panicked after Dale Sr. and his stepmother, Teresa, gave him expensive art tools, thinking he wanted to pursue art school.

The former #88 Hendrick Motorsports driver said (via Crandall on YouTube):

“When they came in the room with that box, it was a big, long rectangular box of all these really great tools and... expensive drawing utensils and pens and things like that was really well thought out, but I panicked” [0:47]

“I panicked like, ‘Oh my god, like I'm not going to be a race car driver.’ It was a very, very shocking just few minutes where I just couldn't believe that this is what they thought I would want to do,” he added.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. followed in his father's footsteps and joined NASCAR in the 90s. He won two Busch Series (now Xfinity Series) championships in 1998 and 1999 and amassed 26 victories in the Cup series.