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Fennelly: Jeffrey Earnhardt, grandson of the late Dale Earnhardt, finds his name cuts both ways

 
Published Feb. 22, 2017

DAYTONA BEACH — It happens when he plops down his credit card, especially in a race city like this one.

"I went to the mall to buy a shirt for a dinner we had last night, and the lady looked at the card."

The woman saw the last name on the card:

Earnhardt.

"And she's like, 'That's a pretty popular name for this time of year."

There's another Earnhardt about to race on the high banks at Daytona International Speedway: Jeffrey Earnhardt, the grandson of the late Dale Earnhardt, son of former driver Kerry Earnhardt and the nephew of Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Jeffrey, 27, will try to qualify for his first Daytona 500 during Thursday night's twin qualifiers.

You're probably wondering if he'd even be racing here if it wasn't for that last name.

But this is the place that has all sorts of meaning for the Earnhardt clan — the highest of highs, the most tragic of lows.

This is the place where his grandfather won the 500 in 1998, then died three years later in Turn 4.

This is the place where Dale Jr. won the 500 twice. He'll start on the front row Sunday after missing half of last season with a concussion.

The name carries.

But it cuts both ways.

"The name?" Earnhardt said. "It's a little bit of both. It helps with sponsors. The name really helps get their attention. Maybe a little bit of respect on the track, too.

"But it's a lot of pressure. It's a lot to live up to. My grandfather, he did a lot of things for the sport. He was my superhero. To try to live up to be a superhero, that's not something I'm capable of."

Jeffrey Earnhardt has made 24 starts on the sport's top rung, the NASCAR Cup Series. His best finish came last season, 26th place. Name or no name, he is fighting for sponsors and isn't sure he'll be able to race a full season, though he is backed by Starter, the sports apparel manufacturer.

"It helps me probably more than it helps them," Earnhardt said with a smile.

At the moment, the most notable thing about this Earnhardt might be his facial hair. It's in full bloom. Ask his uncle.

"I do think Jeffrey has the best beard for Speedweeks, hands down," Dale Jr. said.

Jeffrey didn't begin racing until he was 14. Kerry Earnhardt warned his son right off.

"He didn't want me to think it's all a street paved with gold," Jeffrey said.

He still might have fallen into just that sort of trap 10 years ago, when he joined Dale Earnhardt, Inc, founded by his grandfather and his wife, Teresa.

"To go to DEI was my ultimate goal in life," Jeffrey said. "DEI at the time was on top of the world. I signed a deal with them. I thought the streets were paved with gold. I thought I was the luckiest guy in the world.

But DEI fell on hard times after Dale Jr. left to race for Hendrick Motorsports.

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I probably took for granted what I had," Jeffrey said. "I didn't appreciate it like I should have. When everything fell apart, I was back on the streets, looking for a job."

He races for a small team. It's not an easy job.

"Hopefully, by midseason, we'd like to put together some good runs. For a small team, a good run is anywhere from 25th to 30th," Earnhardt said. "To me, it feels like you're a Little League baseball player going up against MLB guys."

He added, "I don't expect to have things handed to me because of my last name. I want people to give me rides because they think I belong there."

And, no, he doesn't use the last name at restaurants to jump the line and get a table.

"I just put my name in as Jeffrey," he said. "I don't want to feel like I'm abusing something my grandfather built. He built that name."