Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s early racing career was a wild ride, full of the same rebellious spark that defined his childhood. In the late ‘90s Busch Series and his early Cup days, Junior was a firecracker, pushing cars to the edge, partying hard off the track, and sometimes butting heads with his crew. That raw, unpredictable energy made him a fan favorite, a “loose cannon” who leaned on talent as much as strategy.

It’s no surprise that spark showed up early, with childhood antics that tested his dad, Dale Earnhardt Sr., the Intimidator himself. Those moments of mischief weren’t just kid stuff—they shaped the daring racer fans would come to love. Recently, Junior got real about those days, sharing stories of sneaking around and swiping stuff that landed him in hot water with his legendary father.

Junior’s childhood antics and big trouble

On a recent Dirty Mo Media chat with his wife, Amy, Dale Earnhardt Jr. spilled some classic stories about his childhood mischief. “I would snoop around this house like I was always curious as to what Dad and them were hiding and what they had in the closets. Some of Dad’s very first business card from 1976, so I go out there and I grabbed a handful of them. I take this card to a card shop in Kannapolis, and I sold it. About a couple weeks later, Dad comes into the room or calls me upstairs or whatever, and he goes, ‘If you got in my closet, got some of them business cards out there,’ and I got big-time punishment.”

That’s peak Junior, sneaking into his dad’s stash in their Kannapolis, North Carolina, home, where Dale Sr. built his empire. Those 1976 business cards were no small thing; they were from Sr.’s early days, hustling for sponsors before he became a seven-time champ. Swiping and selling them was bold, but when Sr. noticed, Junior learned fast that you don’t mess with the Intimidator’s keepsakes.

He didn’t stop there. “He had this big water jug in his room, and he would always come home with change in his pocket and put it in there over and over and over, and I pulled about 80 bucks out of that thing and quarters,” Junior recalled. “One day I went and bought me a Game Boy and some games and then was playing it on the couch the next day. And they’re like, ‘Where the hell did you get that?’ and I got into big trouble.”

Picture this: early ‘90s, young Junior raiding Sr.’s giant change jug filled from post-race pockets for $80 in quarters, enough to snag a Nintendo Game Boy, which ran about $90 back then. Playing it on the couch the next day? Talk about waving a red flag. Dale Sr. clocked it instantly, and Junior’s “big trouble” was probably no picnic. These stories paint a picture of a kid full of curiosity and nerve, shaped by a father whose discipline, on and off the track, instilled lessons about respect and hard work that Junior carried into his racing career.

Junior wants NASCAR’s old Points system back

While Dale Jr.’s been reminiscing about his childhood, he’s also got strong opinions on NASCAR’s current state, especially the playoff system. On a recent Dale Jr. Download episode, he broke it down: “What I think I’m missing and what I believe has more value than people realize is, so we’d be racing along, right? We’d go to Charlotte in October. There’s probably 8 to 10 races left in this season, right? Dad’s right in the thick of the battle, right? Say he’s 40 points behind Rusty Wallace or Mark Martin or somebody, right? And we go to Charlotte, and 13 laps into the race, he broke a cam and [finished] last. That felt like a gut punch.”

Junior’s talking about the old points system, where every race mattered, and a single DNF could tank a championship run. He remembers how his dad, Dale Sr., lived those high-stakes moments, like a blown engine costing 150 points or a win flipping the standings. That drama, he argues, is missing in today’s playoff reset format, where a crash at Daytona’s regular-season finale doesn’t sting as much because the playoffs start fresh.

Junior’s got a fix in mind: “Run 36 [races], it’s no big deal. Say, Ohio State (football) loses the sixth game of the season in a season they know they can’t lose games, right? What if they up and lost that sixth game of the season? Think about the emotional roller coaster that you go on at that point of the year.”

He’s pushing for the old winner-take-all system, where the driver with the most points over 36 races wins the title, with no playoff resets, just pure consistency. As the 2025 playoffs roll on, his childhood stories and push for a classic points format show a guy still connected to the sport’s heart, mischief and all.