Dale Earnhardt Jr. recalls “super fun” Amy Earnhardt story from his driving days

Dale Earnhardt Jr. revealed that one of his racing days at Sonoma became unexpectedly exciting, thanks to his wife, Amy Earnhardt. The legendary NASCAR driver hated going to the Sonoma Raceway but the turning point came when Amy accompanied him to the Wine Country.

In 1996, Dale Earnhardt Jr. raced for the first time in NASCAR at the Myrtle Beach Speedway. Junior followed in his father Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s footsteps and became a force to be reckoned with. He amassed 26 Cup Series wins, 24 Xfinity wins, and two consecutive Xfinity championships.

However, during his career, Earnhardt Jr. never liked going to the Sonoma Raceway, but being a racer, he had no choice but to hit the 2.52-mile road course. Nonetheless, things changed when Amy started accompanying Junior to Sonoma.

Dale Jr. outlined how his "miserable" days of going to and forth from the racetrack to the hotel room became "super fun" when Amy joined him.

"Once I married Amy or me and Amy were dating even and she started going with me. If I went to to Sonoma by myself, go out there, sit in a hotel room, go to the racetrack, be miserable, run good, run bad, whatever go home," Dale Jr. said via Dirty Mo Media on X.

"Amy goes with me, we get there, she's like, 'So what are we doing? Where are we going? Well you know, we're not at the track, let's go to dinner somewhere.I'm like, 'I don't know where the hell to go around here right?' So Amy was a big fan of going out there and we had a friend that wanted to take us on this wine tour. Oh man, super fun," Junior added.

Over a decade ago in 2009, Amy was hired by Dale Earnhardt Jr. through her interior designing firm to renovate his Kannapolis home. After the project's completion, the duo reportedly fell for each other and started dating. Two years in 2011, the couple went public with their relationship status. Moving forward, the couple tied the knot on December 31, 2016.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. reveals how their friend made his Sonoma trips super fun

While Junior wasn't fond of his visits to Sonoma, Amy was excited to visit the Wine Country and insisted they explore instead of confining themselves to the four walls of their hotel room. The couple went to several places like Alcatraz, Sausalito, and Petaluma.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was familiar with Petaluma town as it was located near the racetrack and he had "stayed in various resorts over the last few years." However, during one of his visits to the picturesque town with Amy, he went for wine tasting.

Paul Morris, who also had a career in motorsports owns the Cimarette winery in Australia and is the "friend" behind Junior's "super fun" wine tour. Though not an avid fan of wines, the two-time Xfinity champ tasted Pinot Grigio, a white wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera.

It seemed like Dale Earnhardt Jr. liked the crisp and refreshing taste of the wine as it became an instant favorite.

"He [Paul] gave me some Pinot Grigio and dude, I was like, 'This ain't half bad, this is pretty cool.' Every once in a while I get a bottle from him and that's the only type of white wine that I like to drink," Junior said (at 29.45).

Though Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn't a regular wine drinker, his go-to choice is Pinot Grigio whenever he craves a crispy white wine.