“When I opened that door it got quiet: Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s half-brother Kerry reminisces his ‘courageous’ story involving Dale Sr.

The latest episode of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s NASCAR podcast was all about joining severed ties between two brothers. Kerry Earnhardt, the half-brother of Dale Jr., appeared in the episode and, among other stories, revealed how he met the great Dale Earnhardt Sr. for the first time.

Surprisingly, Kerry, son of Dale Sr. and his first wife, Latane, never knew who his real dad was until he was 9 years old. After Latane and Dale Sr. got divorced, Latane remarried a man named Jack Key, who took Kerry under his wing a few years later. Kerry was just three years old at the time.

Kerry soon came to know that he was adopted. Often, he used to ask his mother who his real father was. Latane tried to hide the truth from little Kerry because she knew that Dale Sr. wouldn’t be around that often and that it could affect her son. But she couldn’t keep the secret for long.

Finally came the day when Kerry met his real father. It was also when he got his driver’s license and drove to his grandmother’s place. Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s race shop was just in the backyard, but Kerry waited two hours before he could muster the courage to walk up to the legendary driver and talk to him.

“Everybody (was) laughing and clanging tools and stuff,”’ recalled Kerry. “When I opened that door, it got quiet and Dad was under the hood and he just raised up when I open the door and Dad was like, hey son, I said hey dad, how are you going? He said, good and then he says, "Come on, let's go riding.""

“So we rode around town a little bit just talking...he mentioned about me coming to the house and visiting and getting to meet you and Kelley. We had apart from 3 years old to 16 years old. I didn't know if I would be accepted or rejected,” Kerry added.

Kerry Earnhardt served as a driver development consultant for Dale Earnhardt Inc. till 2011. He also ran seven NASCAR Cup Series races in over three years, 72 Xfinity Series races in more than 10 years and 27 Truck Series races in two years.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to Denny Hamlin’s new crew member for 2025

Denny Hamlin, who drives the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup Series, is set to pair with a new crew chief for the upcoming season. His old crew chief, Chris Gabehart, will assume the role of competition director for the team, while Chris Gayle, former crew chief for the No. 54 team, will replace Gabehart.

Hamlin has been working with Gabehart for six years now. It’s Gabehart who helped Hamlin break his 47-race winless streak back in 2019. Therefore, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. heard the news of the duo parting ways, he was surprised.

"I guess the Gabehart-Denny Hamlin change was a big surprise," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said in an episode of his Dale Jr. Download podcast. “They seemed really in sync, bonded, in sync. Denny is in a really good position to compete for championships this year.”

Hamlin closed the season with three wins, 12 top-5s, and 18 top-10s. He led a combined 943 laps en route to a P8 finish on points.

“Wasn't one of those years where we felt like he was a contender for the title, but it's been pretty much every year he's been one of the guys we thought could have a shot at. And so, for them to mash the pause button on that and make a complete change, a shift in a whole different direction was really a surprise,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. further explained.

2025 will mark Hamlin’s 20th year as a full-time driver in the Cup Series. The veteran racer has victories in several crown jewel races like the Daytona 500, the Coca-Cola 600, and the Southern 500. As of today, he flaunts 54 victories in the series which ties him with Lee Petty for 12th in the all-time wins list.

However, Hamlin doesn’t have a championship yet, which fellow drivers younger than him already do. Can Gayle lead Hamlin to the ultimate honor next season? Only time will tell.