CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Dale Earnhardt Jr. was voted the most popular driver in the Cup Series a record 15 times.
He didn't forget Junior Nation on his way into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
"When I stumbled, you guys were right there ready to lift me back up," Earnhardt said to his fans. "There were times when I absolutely needed you - and you never let me down. We won together, and we lost together. You should know that I don't go into this Hall of Fame alone. I go in with you, and I go in because of you."
Earnhardt was inducted as part of the NASCAR Hall of Fame's 12th class Friday night, along with late-model driver Red Farmer and decorated modified driver Mike Stefanik, who died in a plane crash in 2019. Ralph Seagraves was the recipient of the Landmark Award for outstanding contributions to NASCAR.
The group was selected in 2020, but the induction ceremony was postponed more than a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Now there are two Earnhardts enshrined in Charlotte. Seven-time Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt, who was killed in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, was inducted as part of the inaugural class in 2010.
"To join Dad in the Hall of Fame is probably as good as it is ever going to get," Earnhardt said.
Known around the pits simply as Junior, the younger Earnhardt won 26 races during his Cup Series career, including two Daytona 500s (2004, 2014) and the Pepsi 400 in July 2001, four months after his father's death at the same Daytona International Speedway.
Although Earnhardt never won a season championship at NASCAR's highest level, his impact has been felt throughout the racing world as he has built a career as stock car racing's top ambassador while finding a crossover audience that stretched far beyond his father's reach.
"In the time I have been involved in racing, nobody has impacted the sport more than Dale Earnhardt Jr.," Hall of Fame driver Jeff Gordon said. "When he won, three-quarters of the grandstand stood up and cheered."
Earnhardt began his career at family-owned Dale Earnhardt Inc., winning back-to-back Xfinity Series titles and 13 races in two full-time seasons on NASCAR's second-tier circuit. He earned his first Cup Series win in his 12th start, and like his father, he proved to be a master of the draft and thrived in restrictor plate races, with 10 of his career victories on the highest circuit coming at Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway.
He left DEI six years after his father's death and joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2008 as one of the most coveted free agents in the sport. Team owner Rick Hendrick said he's been amazed by Earnhardt ever since.
During the recession in the late 2010s, Earnhardt approached Hendrick and asked for $1 million to be deducted from his paycheck and distributed among the company's employees so "no one would have to suffer." When that money wasn't redistributed right away, Earnhardt marched into the front office at Hendrick Motorsports and insisted upon it.
"He has an unbelievable heart," Hendrick said.
"I don't know of anybody in any sport that has represented his family any better," said Hall of Fame driver Richard Petty, who shares the record for Cup Series championships with the elder Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson.
Earnhardt was inducted by his wife, Amy.
"He gives of himself daily and loves his family dearly," she said.
AP photo by Matt Kelley / NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Red Farmer, left, and NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Tony Stewart share a laugh prior to Friday night's induction ceremony in Charlotte, N.C.Farmer was inducted by Hall of Fame driver Tony Stewart, who remains in NASCAR as a team owner.
Farmer's exact number of career wins is unknown, but it is "somewhere north of 700" according to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
A member of the "Alabama Gang," he won NASCAR's Modified Division championship in 1956 and three consecutive championships in the Late Model Sportsman Division (1969-71). Farmer preferred racing late models, but he did run 36 Cup Series races with a top finish of fourth. In 1998, he made NASCAR's list of its 50 greatest drivers.
Farmer has lived a charmed life - surviving a helicopter crash that killed NASCAR driver Davey Allison, a tornado that struck and damaged his car and trailer, and a bout with COVID-19.
Through it all, he continues to drive on short tracks at age 89.
"It's something that gets in your blood and you can't get it out," said Farmer, who said he can't wait to drive on Talladega's short track just days after dealing with a heart issue. "I haven't gotten it out of my blood in 75 years. ... I have had a great life, and I wouldn't trade anything for it."
Farmer is the first driver to be inducted in on the pioneer ballot, which recognizes drivers whose careers began prior to 1962.
Stefanik won nine all-time NASCAR championships - tied with Richie Evans for the most ever.
He won seven titles in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and two others in the Busch North Series. Stefanik holds modified series records for championships, wins, pole positions, and top-five and top-10 finishes. In 2003, he was named one of the tour's 10 greatest drivers.
Former car owner and crew chief Ray Evernham, a member of the 2018 Hall of Fame class, inducted Stefanik. The driver's widow, Julie, accepted the honor on behalf of her husband and said he always respected his competitors.
"He was very methodical about his approach, and he was a clean and fair racer," she said.
Landmark Award winner Seagraves died in 1998. A former official with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., he helped sponsor the Winston Cup Series, a partnership that helped NASCAR launch into the national spotlight and created a bedrock of stability for three decades.