"She honestly thought she didn't need Dale Jr." - Tony Eury Jr. once revealed Teresa Earnhardt's DEI miscalculation

Tony Eury Jr. in the Dirty Mo Media podcast revealed that Dale Earnhardt's wife Teresa Earnhardt once believed that she wouldn't require Dale Jr. to run the DEI operations with her after Dale Earnhardt's death. Eury Jr. is a veteran crew chief and Dale Jr.'s cousin.

In an episode from the 2022 Dale Jr. Download podcast, Eury Jr. discussed the time when NASCAR legend Dale Jr. wanted an ownership stake at Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI). It is a former NASCAR team founded by seven-time Cup champion Earnhardt Sr. and his wife Teresa.

Dale Jr., at that time, wanted a 51 percent stake in the company, which Teresa refused after Dale Sr.'s death. However, Dale Jr. and his sister Kelley left the team in the late 2000s and started the Xfinity team, now known as JR Motorsports. Thus, this departure of Dale Jr. and its sponsors heavily affected DEI, as a result, Teresa-led DEI eventually merged with Chip Ganassi Racing.

Eury Jr., who worked for DEI, gave an insight into the whole ownership fiasco with Teresa and NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jr. He said (at 15:58):

"At the end of the day when she's(Teresa) sitting there, she honestly thought that Dale Earnhardt's legacy was so big that she didn't need Dale Jr. and for her personal deal."

"Yeah, we want to keep Dale's legacy but at the end of the day DEI can't survive without Dale Jr. Every contract every sponsor everything is tied to him at some way or another...so you're sitting there looking at all that and you're like this ship's taking on water," Eury Jr. added.

Eury Jr. also claimed that everyone wanted to be linked with Dale Jr. Even if it was the #15 DEI car's sponsor, which was not directly tied with Dale Jr. He added:

"They want to have something that's connected to an Earnhardt name."

Eury Jr. is the son of Sandra Gee, sister of Dale Earnhardt's wife, Brenda Gee, and the daughter of the legendary engine builder, Robert Gee. Apart from having a family relationship with Dale Jr., Eury Jr. was the car chief for Earnhardt Sr. in the Xfinity Series. During Dale Jr.'s initial days at Hendrick Motorsports, Eury Jr. started his career as a crew chief with the North Carolina native.

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"She'd have stayed deal, I'd have stayed" - Dale Jr. on continuing his NASCAR journey at DEI

Former Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Jr. believed that if the deal had been in place, he would have continued his racing and business career at Dale Earnhardt Inc.

In the aforementioned podcast, Dale Jr. said:

"She would have said 'Deal', I'd have stayed, right? We'd have kept on digging, right yeah but I really was ready to...if I was calling her bluffs and she's gonna call mine that's that what we were gonna do."

Dale Jr. held the record of the Most Popular Driver for 15 consecutive times in the NASCAR Cup Series. His impressive racing career included two-time Xfinity champion titles and five-time Xfinity owner championship for JR Motorsports.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 National Guard Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 23, 2014, in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

In a career span of 20 years in the Cup Series, Dale Jr. secured 26 wins, two of which he celebrated at the victory lane of the esteemed Daytona 500. Apart from being a host on his podcast, the 49-year-old Dale Jr. is set to join the broadcasting booth in 2025 for Amazon and TNT's new broadcasting deal with NASCAR.