"I remember crying": Dale Earnhardt Jr. recalls childhood heartbreak memory of watching his father spin out at Bristol

Dale Earnhardt Jr. opened up on a heartbreaking moment when his father, Dale Earnhardt, spun out at Bristol Motor Speedway back in 1984. He recalled how he was crying in the infield after Dale Sr. got 'stuck' with flat tires.

Dale Sr. and Terry Labonte were battling for the championship when they both ran the Busch 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Labonte won the race after leading the final 124 laps, while Earnhardt succumbed to a late spin that left him 22 laps down in the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

The incident was apparently one of the first few races that Dale Jr. got to witness in person. On the latest episode of Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt was asked his favorite memory at the one mile concrete, and the 50-year-old had this to say.

"So we're at the Bristol Night Race. Dad's leading....and he spins down the front straightaway and all four tires are flat and he's kind of stuck, right, trying to get going and he gets lapped and ended up losing the race." [1:06:51 onwards]

"And I cried. I was sitting on top of a comfort coach van dead center of the infield. I remember looking across toward the flag stand and being able to barely kind of see dad's car between dad and pit crew and other vans and other obstacles and buildings and so forth and just there he goes sliding backwards and I'm like crap. And I remember, you know, crying because it was heartbreaking," Dale Earnhardt Jr. added.

Dale Sr. and Terry Labonte would go on to have many more championship battles. Most famous of them was in 1999, when the two went against each other during a Bristol night race, and Dale Sr. spun out Labonte on the final lap.

During a post-race interview, race-winner Dale Sr. was asked about the incident and he famously replied that he wanted to 'rattle his cage'.

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When Dale Earnhardt Jr. looked back on lacking his father's leadership

Three years ago, Dale Earnhardt Jr. reflected on how much he missed out without his father's guidance. The seven-time champion tragically died after a final-lap collision during the 2001 Daytona 500, when Dale Jr. was just in his sophomore year in the Cup Series.

"I didn't realize the work ethic needed to be as great as I could possibly be... I got partnered up with Budweiser, which, had dad lived, he would've probably encouraged me, successfully, to be better at applying myself," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said via Youtube/ The News & Observer

Dale Earnhardt Jr. later confessed that he went through a 'terrible sadness' and 'dark, dark depression' after his father died. He revealed how the tragic incident also freed him up from Dale Sr.'s protection, which he felt was 'dangerous.'