"We just know we're gonna die" - Dale Jr.'s podcast guest Buddy Parrott recalls wild ride with Dale Earnhardt during an outing

Dale Earnhardt Jr. invited the legendary crew chief Buddy Parrot to the Bojangles studio, where he records his podcast: The Dale Jr. Download. Parrot, one of the closest friends of Junior's father Dale Earnhardt Sr., remembered the time when he was scared to death while on a trip with his friend.

Earnhardt Sr. was among the most competitive NASCAR drivers during the 1980s and the 1990s. He ran 676 races in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now known as the NASCAR Cup Series), winning 76.

Earnhardt was also a four-time International Race of Champions Series winner and a seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion, which tied him with Richard "The King" Petty and Jimmie Johnson in most Cup Series championships won by a driver.

On the Dale Jr Download, Parrot recalled the time when he accompanied Earnhardt, renowned race car fabricator Robert Gee and another friend, Cruise, on a ride to Charlotte. The four friends took Parrot's 1965 Cadillac on the trip. Unfortunately, Parrot couldn't remember why they had decided to go to Charlotte.

"Your dad was not a big drinker," Parrot told Dale Earnhardt Jr. "That was a good thing; your dad was the DD (designated driver). What a mistake that was!"

"We're on our way back home...your dad hangs the right rear out in the gravel and the dirt, and it's beating all up under the car, and we just know we're gonna die. Cruise reaches over and jerks the keys out of the car. We get out of the car. Cruise walks up and just slaps your dad. I mean it scared us, you know? I said, 'Cruise stop that man, you; 're gonna break his jaw!'" he added laughing.

Dale Earnhardt succumbed a nerve-chilling crash at the 2001 Daytona 500. He was honored by posthumous inductions into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2002, the Oceanside Rotary Club Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame at Daytona Beach in 2004 and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2006.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. calls out NASCAR's 2024 schedule amid announcements for next year

Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the 16th Annual Hampton Heat at Langley Speedway. (Source: Imagn)

NASCAR has been hosting its regular season finale at the Daytona International Speedway for the past two years, but this year, Darlington will witness the 26th race of the season.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wondered why NASCAR decided to move Daytona to the penultimate race of the regular season.

"Isn’t it hard to remember it’s not the cutoff race or not the last race of the regular season?" Earnhardt said on last week's episode of The Dale Jr. Download. "Da** you, NASCAR. I’m just giving them a hard time. The schedule got jumbled up, andhthey didn’t wanna move the Darlington date off of Labor Day.

"It still did have the same potential to be a spoiler race. Did it change at all moving it away one week? Not so much, because we still got the underdog winner that they’re trying to give that race that chance to be. And it was that."

However, the 2025 NASCAR schedule will have Daytona hosting the regular season finale just like before. Fans can take a look at the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule here.