Becoming Earnhardt Vol. 5 - The Lead Is Where I'll Be

The Dale Jr. Download

Dirty Mo Media & SiriusXM

Sports

5 • 8.4K Ratings

🗓️ 19 December 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s June of 1979 and 28-year-old Dale Earnhardt is feeling as confident as ever. With a notch in the win column and top five finishes in the last three races, the rookie seems to have found his place amongst the stock car racing elite. As episode five of Becoming Earnhardt opens, the NASCAR Cup circuit travels to the Lone Star State to take on the daunting Texas World Speedway. Dale would once again race his way into the spotlight, nipping at the heels of eventual race winner Darrell Waltrip before a mechanical failure sent him into the wall and made him settle for a 12th-place finish. But the impressive showing had Ol’ DW once again admitting in victory lane, “when all the seasoned veterans retire, it’ll be Dale Earnhardt I’ll have to contend with.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The following is a production of Dirtymoe Media.
0:07.5	Talking about Dale Earnhardt.
0:09.1	He's one of the declared candidates running for a rookie of the year this year,
0:12.6	and we talked to him in the garage area, and he had this to say.
0:15.5	Where's you stranded?
0:17.1	Well, you know, we've just got 500 miles of race there,
0:20.2	and we're just going to go out and run and try to stay with the leaders and run hard. Then, you know, I've got 500 miles to race there and we're just going to run and try to stay with the lead and run hard.
0:23.7	Then, you know, I'm going to run comfortable if I'm running comfortable is in the lead.
0:27.5	That's where I'll be.
0:30.0	Well, if comfortable is in the lead, then that's where I'll be.
0:34.1	Those are pretty confident words for a guy who has less than two dozen NASCAR Cup starts to his name,
0:40.0	but then again, after winning in his first trip to Bristol and nearly beating the king at his own gang in front of the hometown crowd,
0:49.1	it's no wonder that Dad was brimming with the confidence of a seasoned veteran.
0:53.5	Dad's progression through the world of auto racing was incredible.
0:58.0	His early season success had him on the radar of every press member and broadcaster in NASCAR
1:05.0	and in the crosshairs of the rest of the NASCAR garage.
1:09.0	But how long could this 28-year-old with limited experience
1:12.7	hold up under the pressure?
1:15.4	Would the rush to return to Victory Lane
1:18.0	bring about desperation?
1:20.2	Or would the desperation turn into reckless aggression?
1:25.3	I'm Dellenhart, Jr.,
	...

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