Dale Earnhardt Jr Admits Hilarious Mistake to His Wife Amy About “Wives’ Tale” After Saying It Wrong for Decades

In the fast-paced world of NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Jr. stands out as a big name in the garage. With 26 Cup Series wins and two Daytona 500 victories from his driving days, he now shares his insights from nearly 20 years on the track. Through his podcast, The Dale Jr. Download, he draws in fans and drivers with honest chats that feel like hanging out after a race. But even legends like Dale Jr can mess up simple sayings, just like how new fans might say “Talla-DEE-ga” instead of the insider’s “TAL-uh-DIG-uh.”

Imagine using the wrong word for decades without noticing and being corrected by your wife. Amy Earnhardt, who married him in 2016, plays a key role in his life as the steady force at home. As Dale Jr puts it, “Amy is kind of the crew chief of the family, making sure that everybody’s fed… that everybody’s clean and just all the basic things.” She keeps things running smoothly, helping him balance family life with his busy schedule, and also occasionally corrects him on things like his decades-old mistake, a topic both discussed in their recent podcast episode.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s decades-long slip-up on a fishing yarn

The mix-up came out during a relaxed chat on Bless Your ‘Hardt’s latest episode, where Dale Jr. and Amy shared funny fishing stories from their lives. Dale Jr started with a childhood memory about fishing with Captain Malcolm, a state patrol friend. He described sneaking up on a tough garfish: “I ended up putting this big hook on the end of the line. I dropped the hook beside him and quickly took the pole and went underneath him and wrapped the line around.”

This led to a local paper headline reporting it as, “Dale Jr. lassoed gar fish.” He laughed and said, “Yeah, it’s like this old wise tale,” linking it to those old bits of folklore passed around like tips in the garage.

But Amy caught the error right away and set him straight: “I’m pretty sure it’s a wives’ tale.” Dale Jr was surprised: “It’s not an old wise tale?” Their exchange revealed he’d been saying “wise tale” for years, not knowing the right phrase is “old wives’ tale.” The term comes from European tradition, going back to around 16th century, where it was used to describe superstitions, folk remedies, or bits of advice passed down orally by older women. The word ‘wives’ was generalized for women and didn’t just mean the ones married.

However, it somehow stuck incorrectly in Dale Jr’s ear all his life, maybe whispered wrong in some Southern fish camp tale during his Dale Earnhardt Inc. upbringing. No big scandal, just the kind of innocent glitch we all go through for similar things of that nature.

“For 50 years, I thought it was ‘wise’ tale…I was today years old when I figured out it was a ‘wives” tale,” Dale Jr confessed as they both shared the light-hearted revelation.

The “wise tale” mix-up fit right in with fishing’s superstitions, where folks rely on moon phases or lucky lures to get bites. In NASCAR, drivers like Denny Hamlin use fishing to relax from race stress, but bad luck can still hit. Hamlin shared on his Actions Detrimental podcast about a rough tournament day at Daytona, telling his guide, “Listen, just tell me if you see me doing something or my bait is not correct; just let me know. But I feel like I’m getting unlucky.”

He’d hook fish but lose them, watching birds eat while his line stayed empty, much like Amy’s childhood complaints. “This is the tone of luck that I’m gonna have in my life. If I can go to something like that, where the fish are supposed to be like literally right there, and I still didn’t catch anything.” It ties the grit of racing to the frustrations on the water, where even pros count on gut feelings for success.

Those watery what-ifs run deep in Earnhardt lore, blending family bonds with boat-side belly laughs that outlast any checkered flag.

Dale Sr.’s sharky send-off on a country star’s big day

Kix Brooks and Dale Earnhardt Sr. became good friends in the ’90s, mixing country music with NASCAR through hunting trips and a cameo in Brooks & Dunn’s 1997 “Honky Tonk Truth” video.That bond led to a family fishing trip off San Salvador in the Bahamas on Dale’s 51-foot Hatteras boat, where sharky waters promised excitement. As Brooks told Marty Smith in a July chat before SEC Media Days, they caught mahi, wahoo, and tuna all morning, leaving everyone tired but happy.

“We had our families together, you know, on his boat, and we had caught fish all day long,” Brooks said, describing the good vibes. From the top deck with a beer, Brooks spotted a marlin jumping and called out, “Earnhardt, check this out!” Dale, always drawn to adventure from his North Carolina roots, tossed lines in despite Brooks saying he was done. Dale pushed, “We’re gonna get them.”

After hooking the marlin and raising the flag like a race win, Brooks went back up for his beer. But Dale had dumped chum from the day’s bait to attract turtles. He called Brooks over: “Man, check this out, KB.” When Brooks leaned in, Dale grabbed his pants and threw him into the bloody water. “So I go sliding back down, I looked over the side, and he grabbed me by the seat of the pants and just threw me out there in that bloody water,” Brooks remembered, still shocked.

Brooks came up covered in blood, keeping still as the boat pulled away on Dale’s order to Captain Terry. “Let’s go.” His wife screamed from the deck in panic. “And I’m sure it was like a Tarantino movie, because I wouldn’t even move my legs… I can hear my wife screaming every time I come up, you know, profanities as the boat gets smaller,” Brooks laughed later.

They came back fast; no harm done. “I still have most of my body parts,” turning the prank into a strong memory. Dale Jr. posted on X, “This is fu—ng insane.” These stories keep Dale Sr.’s bold spirit alive in racing circles, showing his fun side off the track outlasts any victory.