“Carl did not think you were joking”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Co. pulls back the curtain on unheard 2012 Daytona 500 chatter

Ahead of the 2025 Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared an unheard chatter about the infamous red flag in the 2012 edition. He said Carl Edwards might've taken the joke about letting Dave Blaney take the win seriously.

Earnhardt Jr. is a former NASCAR driver who won the Daytona 500 twice (2004 and 2014). He also entered the "Great American Race" in 2012 where Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into a jet dryer and caused a two-hour-long red flag with 40 laps to go.

During the red flag, the drivers chatted with each other on the racetrack. Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently revealed that they joked about giving Dave Blaney the win since he was the lead car before the race was stopped, which Carl Edwards might not have appreciated.

"There was a conversation of all of us going, 'Is everybody cool if we just say, alright, man, Dave's the winner?' And I think everybody was, maybe Carl Edwards wasn't okay with that... we were joking, of course," the former NASCAR driver said via the Dale Jr. Download podcast. [0:10]

Podcast co-host Andrew Kurland chimed in and said:

"Carl did not think you were joking."

The then-Hendrick Motorsports driver told the podcast he continued joking about ending the race with Blaney as the winner, saying he was running within the top 10 anyway.

"I'm like, 'Dave! Dave way to go!' I could have walked out of there... what were we? I was fifth or 10th? Whatever. I don't know," the Kannapolis native said.

After two hours of cleaning the spilled jet fuel, the race was resumed. Dave Blaney, who led the field on the restart, dropped to 15th at the end of the race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second behind Matt Kenseth. Carl Edwards, who was 17th on the restart, finished eighth.

---

Dale Earnhardt Jr. set to return in 2025 Daytona 500 with JR Motorsports

Following the retirement from NASCAR in 2017, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will return to the Daytona 500, though as a team owner. His JR Motorsports team will debut in the season-opener at Daytona with Justin Allgaier behind the wheel.

The entry was made possible in collaboration with Chris Stapleton's Traveller Whiskey. The company will sponsor Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 40 Chevrolet Camaro as it will attempt to qualify for Sunday's race.

Allgaier said about JR Motorsports' Cup debut:

"This is an incredible honor to be driving JR Motorsports’ inaugural entry into the Cup Series. Entering into the Daytona 500 has been a goal of this company for a long time and I know that we are going to have everything we need to go out and contend for the win. This is going to be special for sure."

Allgaier will go up against other open car drivers, including Martin Truex Jr. and J.J. Yeley. Four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves is also part of the open car entry list, though he will benefit from the new NASCAR rule - Open Exemption Provisional (OEP).

The Daytona 500 Speedweek will commence on February 13 for the Bluegreen Vacations Duels (qualifying session) ahead of the race on Sunday.