“He was so hungover”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. recalls hilarious Sterling Marlin story from Watkins Glen

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently recalled a hilarious story involving old-school NASCAR drivers like the Labonte brothers and Sterling Marlin. During an episode of his podcast, Dale Jr. Download, the former NASCAR driver recalled a knock on his door from Kenny Schrader back in the day.

Junior said it was a Friday night, around 9:00 p.m. when Schrader asked him to come along because he was summoned. The young Earnhardt obliged and found "five old heads" in Sterling Marlin, Bobby Labonte, Terry Labonte, and others, who were all drinking beer.

But after being there for a few minutes, Earnhardt asked Schrader why he was brought in, to which he got a heartfelt response:

"Terry Labonte leans in and goes, I was like, 'What?' He was like. 'I think you really need to wear one of them devices. I really want you to think about doing that. I want you to be around for a long time man. I don't want anything happen to you.' So I was like, 'You got it, whatever. I'd do it,'" Earnhardt Jr. recalled.

However, the next morning, during the practice session at Watkins Glen, another hilarious incident happened.

Junior said:

"The next day I think it was Schrader or Sterling, pulls out on the racetrack for practice, runs about 2 laps, says, 'Man there's something wrong with the transmission,' and had the guys changed the transmission because he was so hungover. He did not want to be in the car and transmission change is going to take the rest of practice and he'll get in the car for the final practice and run it. And so I mean those guys were pulling s**t like that."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. revealed Sterling Marlin is still bothered by the tragic day at Daytona in 2001

During the Daytona 500 in 2001, Sterling Marlin made contact with Dale Earnhardt Sr., moments before the checkered flag dropped. Because of this, the #3 driver ended up hitting the wall head-on in a crash that didn't appear as grave as its impact.

It was in this crash that Earnhardt Sr. lost his life. And because of what happened and his unfortunate role in that, Marlin hasn't been able to forget it ever since.

During an appearance on Earnhardt Jr.'s podcast in 2023, Marlin briefly touched on the tragic day at Daytona in 2001. He deemed what happened as a racing accident, revealing that he got death threats in its wake.

But while Marlin didn't go into detail about that day, Earnhardt Jr. later revealed that the 2x Daytona 500 winner hasn't been able to get over that day.

"Sterling wouldn’t open up about it. He came to the studio with some friends of his, which we like that — we like people to be here and support. It makes the person in the chair more comfortable. They said about once a month he watches the last 10 laps of that race, maybe looking at what might could have been done or happened differently. And that it still bothers him," Junior said.

He added that Marlin wouldn't share how he feels about the 2001 Daytona 500, which is fine with him. But Earnhardt Jr. claimed he hates that it is the way it is.