"I was panicking": Dale Jr. recalls when Dale Sr. and Teresa Earnhardt misread his true passion

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently opened up about a pivotal moment from his youth that fans will see in the upcoming documentary, Earnhardt. The four-part series, which is set to premiere May 22 on Amazon Prime Video, will feature not only the racing career of late NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Sr., but also the complex dynamics within his family with interviews from several family members.

Among the stories is a revealing episode where Dale Jr. reflects on a time he felt misunderstood.

During a recent interview with journalist Kelly Crandall, Dale Jr., who enjoyed drawing race cars and painting designs, expanded on when Dale Sr. and stepmother Teresa Earnhardt misread his artistic hobbies as a sign he might want to pursue art school.

"When I when they came in the room with that box, it was a big long rectangular box of all these really great tools and high expensive, you know, expensive drawing utensils and pens and things like that was really well thought out," he said.

The 26-time NASCAR Cup race winner also shared how desperately he wanted to be a race car driver and realised his father had misunderstood his true passion.

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

Dale Jr. started racing at 17 after training at Andy Hillenburg’s driving school. He raced in the Street Stock division at Concord Motorsport Park and debuted in NASCAR with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. in 1996. Before all that, the JR Motorsports team owner struggled to communicate with his father.

"I was panicking because I thought, you know, I knew racing wasn't in my grasp yet and I was reaching out for it...I guess he truly didn't know how I felt about racing or driving or how badly I wanted to do it," Dale Jr. said.

Prime Video will release the first two episodes of Earnhardt just before the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend.

Earnhardt documentary to reveal Dale Jr.'s childhood and entry into racing

The Earnhardt documentary will also feature rare footage with exciting race moments. The first episode, titled Ironhead, will look into Dale Sr.'s quick rise to fame. The second episode will explore how he became NASCAR's fearless The Intimidator, and his growing family tensions amid his marriage with Teresa.

The seven-time Cup champion's second marriage ended soon after Dale Jr.'s birth. A fire destroyed Dale Jr.'s mother's home, he and his older sister Kelley went to live with their father.

The last two episodes will focus on the challenges of his children entering racing and cover his final race, the 2001 Daytona 500.

The documentary will also feature interviews with other NASCAR stars like Jeff Gordon, Kyle Petty, and Richard Childress.