“He was our everything”: Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s podcast guest emotionally reflects on Alan Kulwicki’s tragic plane crash 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had Tony Gibson come over for the latest episode of his Dale Jr. Download podcast. Seated alongside the NASCAR Hall of Famer, Gibson remembered the horrific plane crash that led to the untimely demise of his friend and boss, Alan Kulwicki.

Gibson worked for Kulwicki’s team back in 1992. He was also the crew chief for Jeff Gordon’s title teams in 1998 and 2001. Recalling the sudden death of his friend, Gibson told Dale Jr.,

“We lost our owner, our driver, our friend, our job... we lost everything. Like, he was our everything. Our group was a family. A lot of people don't realize that Alan didn't have a lot of really close friends. So we were his family. We joked sometimes he's making us work late just cause he wants somebody to spend time with, which was fine.”

It was April 1, 1993. Three others alongside Kulwicki died in the crash that day. As per reports, the flight was returning from a Knoxville Hooters event on Kingston Pike and was headed to Kingsport, Tennessee, for Sunday’s spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

At first, Gibson wasn’t convinced that his friend was dead. It was only after visiting the airport that he had to swallow the bitter truth.

“I remember going to the airport that night and trying to figure out and understand is this really true?” Gibson added.

Alan Kulwicki ran 207 races over nine years (1985-1993) in the NASCAR Cup Series. The Wisconsin native amassed five wins, 75 top-10s, and 24 poles during his tenure as a Cup Series driver. He also owns six Xfinity starts with his last race being the 1985 Milwaukee Sentinel 200.

Kulwicki was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2002, and NASCAR’s official Hall of Fame in 2019. In 2023, he was named one of NASCAR’s 75 greatest drivers.

Josh Berry remembered Dale Earnhardt Jr. amid post-race celebrations at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Wood Brothers Racing newcomer Josh Berry won last week’s Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and became the first driver from the Ford camp to make the 2025 playoffs. But there was something unusual about how the Hendersonville native celebrated his win.

Drivers are known to perform burnouts after bagging the checkered flag. Then they emerge from within the smoke, climb on the roof of their cars, and celebrate the triumph. Carl Edwards was known to perform an iconic backflip to celebrate his victories, but it's safe to say that he was one of a kind.

Berry did climb atop his car but didn’t burn his tires. Recalling the same, he said,

“Over the course of the off-season, I found myself watching the 2014 Daytona 500 when Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) won. He went down to one and kind of swung around, took his stuff off, waved at the fans.”

“That’s just what I wanted to do. Kind of who I am. I’ve spent my whole life working on my own race cars, building race cars, got my ass chewed a couple times for doing burnouts when I shouldn’t and tore stuff up. I just want to soak in the moment,” Berry further added.

Next up for Josh Berry is the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The 267-lap race has been scheduled for Sunday, March 23, and will be televised on Fox Sports 1 from 3 pm ET onwards with live radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.