It was May 29, 2011. Under the Charlotte night sky, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was about to snag a win in NASCAR’s longest and most grueling race—the Coca-Cola 600. The No. 88 car had dodged wrecks, survived late-race chaos, and taken the lead with two laps to go. The grandstands erupted. It was happening. Junior was going to win in Charlotte, the same place where his legendary father had carved out chapters of history.

But halfway through the final lap, Junior’s car sputtered. “I’m out, I’m out,” he radioed in, heartbreak in every word. The tank was empty. Kevin Harvick blew by and took the win. Dale Jr. coasted to a gut-punch seventh-place finish. That wasn’t just a lost win—it was a reminder of how cruel this sport can be. “It sucks. It does. But we’ll get another shot at it,” he said, trying to stay composed.

That one still stings. Charlotte has never been kind to Junior. Despite its history with the Earnhardt name, Junior never scored a point win at the track. Still, when Dale Jr. looks back at the Coca-Cola 600, it’s not his own heartbreak that comes to mind. It’s a wild race from 1980—a race so untouched, it still gives him chills.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. echoes Hamlin’s concerns through the 1980 World 600

In today’s NASCAR, debates around horsepower, downforce, and dirty air never end. Drivers and fans are frustrated with how difficult it is to pass the leader. NASCAR has tried everything from short-track packages to new tire compounds. But the action still feels forced. That’s what makes the 1980 World 600 feel so pure to Dale Earnhardt Jr. On his Dale Jr. Download podcast, he admitted it’s his favorite race.

“I do that, though. I posted—there’s one race that I love to post. My Achilles heel of nostalgia posting is the 1980 World 600. Darrell Waltrip and Benny Parsons are racing for the lead, bumper to bumper. I think in the last 20 laps, they changed the lead about 15 times. In the last four laps, or even the last lap, they changed it two or three times. It was just wild,” he said on his weekly podcast.

Notably, that day, the rest of the field was seven laps down. The race had lasted over seven hours thanks to rain delays and 14 cautions. Tire issues had taken out names like Dale Earnhardt, Bobby Allison, and Cale Yarborough. But none of that mattered when Parsons and Waltrip took the spotlight. With the checkered flag in sight, Parsons edged out Waltrip by just a car length.

But what mesmerized Dale Jr. was how the car responded. His love for the race isn’t just nostalgia. He truly believes the competition between those two cars represents something NASCAR can’t replicate today. “You thought one guy had the better car, and then boom, the other one would come flying by. And when one took the lead, the lift created made the car slide up the track,” he recalled with excitement.

“I don’t even know if they could make a car with the same aero efficiency or struggles they had back then. But whatever was going on—it was magic,” he further added. Earlier this year, in March, Dale Jr. jumped into a similar conversation on social media. When a video from 1985 sparked debate about the quality of racing in the ’80s, Junior responded by posting the 1980 World 600.

And Junior isn’t alone in that thinking. Denny Hamlin recently mentioned similar concerns on his podcast. He pointed out how today’s cars don’t suffer when they’re in clean air. “You drive up to them, and they don’t lose air,” Hamlin said. Junior echoed that, calling the 1980 model “elite” for how it mixed power, drag, lift, and downforce. That’s the standard he holds. That’s the race that keeps him thinking, ‘What if we could just go back to that formula?’

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Dale Jr. and the NASCAR car he dreams of driving

Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t just love watching old races—he dreams of reliving them. And if there’s one car he could drive from any era, it’s his father’s ride from the late ’70s or early ’80s. “I have a car from then that Dad raced. And I am so tempted to get it outfitted and take it somewhere where I could go 150 to 160 mph and see how it felt,” he shared. For him, it’s not about the speed. It’s about the feel. Those cars were huge, heavy, and raw—nothing like today’s sleek machines.

He admits he’s obsessed with the cars from that era. “Any year in the ’70s, I would have loved to drive one of those cars in competition,” he said. The Gen 4 car he drove in 2004, his best season statistically, came close. That year, he won six races and had 21 top-10 finishes, his personal best. “That car felt right. It had a lot of downforce and grip, but all in the body. It was fun to drive,” he recalled.

But even the Gen 4 can’t match the feeling he imagines from his dad’s era. “I just would love to know what trying to drive one of those big boats around Michigan felt like,” he said with wonder. The question has stayed with him—how it moved, how it braked, how it slid through a corner. For Dale Jr., it’s not just a curiosity. It’s a connection to the sport’s gritty roots.