Dale Earnhardt Jr. and family have emotional initial reaction to NASCAR HOF nod | Motorsports on NBC

today here in Charlotte North Carolina the sports hall of fame grows by three you will hear the announcement live at the same time the three inductees and their families hear the news - Amy you want to come over here watch come on Amy you got no cheer so we've got the TV going on NASCAR America has come on we've got the family here Amy and Isla have joined us Dale Junior's ready Kelly's in we've got everybody hovered around here and so now it's just we've been told that 510 or so we're going to find out that's just a few minutes it's a little bit different this year in how the ballot is sort of made up you have a modern era and a pioneer era so the ten individuals who make up the modern era of ballot the nominees do feature three first-time nominees some other names on that modern era ballot include Harry Hyde Ricky Rudd and modified star Mike Stefanik I like Larry Phillips Mike Stepanek - I am solid Kirk Shelburne kind of like Curt there's so many good guys if this doesn't go our way wait listen we're looking at names right now that are absolutely belong in the NASCAR Hall of Fame and so we're gonna be happy we're gonna be happy for whoever makes it in there right oh here we go oh this is it guys I'm nervous all right here we go come on let's get to it but the time has now come to reveal the first member of the 2021 class being inducted this member comes from the pioneer ballot it's red farmer one of the original members of the Alabama gang red farmer red farmer the pioneer ballot so that's awesome yeah that'd be a great thing about it is you know there's so many deserving people that belong on there that aren't with us anymore but grant will be able to come speak and you know this while he's still here she's getting aggressive I'm nervous are you nervous I wasn't until this ila is ordering up some diecast cars to play with she's just a Colorado sterling car oh thank you it's got your name on it I look I'll take down back home you want the green car Tony can you get the green car that one can you run it don't give her the wrong one oh here we go number two Oh Massa nervous let's go ahead and keep the inductions going the second member of the class of 2021 the first of two from the modern era ballot you know he's one of two drivers to win nine NASCAR championships Richie Evans as the other one Mike Stefanik joins him in the NASCAR Hall of Fame my Stefanik Stefanik he's deserving 74 career Modified Tour wins and a pure class act person don't open honey spoiled you with him high in diecast what's the race car done with Allen here comes and it's now time to reveal the third and final member of the 2021 class Dale Earnhardt jr. will be yes he's in or will be in 2021 Wow oh my gosh Wow I can't imagine what this must feel like cuz like we're all sorted now just breathing again and Lee is back there shaking you go into the hall Oh big deal Amy's crying I was just wanting more race cars and that's that is the proper reaction are you relieved you know wasn't it's not really relieved I'm just emotional because I you know I was so honored to be on the list of guys that were on that list just to be beside some of those names and being 45 years old I knew I had a long time to be able to wait if my name was ever to be called that I could be I was gonna be fine with being patient and having to wait but you I live on affirmation you know that yeah Amy you know that and cheerleading and hey you're doing a great job and nothing says you're doing a great job better than that right therefore when you um you know you we race for so many years and worked really hard and tried to do it right way and so it's great to have somebody pat you on the back and that's just I mean that comes from the whole industry there's so many people in the voting panel that you have respect for I don't know everyone that's on it but I do know some of those folks and I think that they have that opinion of me means the world to me it's a pretty special deal it also it's a cell it's it's a win for a lot of other people you know you might yeah so that's a lot of people have been with you through the years a lot of Penn Kent let's talk about Kelly for a second I mean Kelly my goodness think about where we'd be without her and Amy you know she was she amazing it's hard to believe she was with me for half of my career right and through some of the tougher parts yeah you know to get I didn't even know that we would get better and be able to come back and win in a handful races like we did and to be able to support me and help me into the chapter of broadcasting because I feel like that when you're the hall-of-fame sort of a body of work and when you look at guys like Harry Gant you know they're there there's couple wins but then you think of everything that Harry Gant did below that you know it's like the type that's like the iceberg and what's underneath the surface that you really can't see or we sometimes forget and I was hoping that my body of work the the work we've done in Xfinity series not only just the Championships but the people we've groomed into the sport or helped create a path of their own into the sport and there's a lot there to you know sand in the broadcasting and all that - I know I'm just starting there but I feel like I've had a good impact on that side of sport as well to keep you know keep sport growing and fans and it's a motional deal man but now you know we get to go through that now we get to go through the experience of being nominated being being you know the process of crafting our speech oh man yeah just going to the put getting the jacket and so exciting standing up there with all those legends and all those heroes and I can't wait Amy do you want do you want to speak a little bit I mean like you don't have to for sure but I mean I don't certainly want to offer the opportunity because you are right there with him I mean this guy's here because of you you but you don't have to know I don't you know the thing okay I'll just say that this is just such a great pat on the back and I'm so thankful and I will never I don't know if they'll ever sink in and so I won't be ever I won't ever take it for granted the opportunity to to be inducted in the Hall of Fame and the chance to actually have your name called it's pretty special I mentioned this back when you were just listed on the the nominees and we we were geeked out by that River it was good thing about it and I mentioned this to you we did on the show it was a zoom show so you know does it count I don't know but the the thing about it is think about Isla the island did not get to experience your career we got to the reward there for Daytona 500 wins but it's hard for anybody to actually you know understand how how significant a career would have been I like you know even my dad or your dad or whatever we look we know what we know but we weren't there I will have a that place in the NASCAR Hall of Fame well after you're long gone and anybody she will always be able to go visit and remember her dad yeah that is the thing about NASCAR Hall of Fame's to begin with is that that that's what they do they keep in the memory of significant careers you got something yeah Jeff Glueck just tweeted Dale Earnhardt jr. got the most votes in this year's class and he was named on 76 percent of the modern error ballots that's cool yeah there's amazing [Laughter] honestly I swear when I was looking at that list I was thinking there's no way that I can go in before these guys right you know just cause of their their impact on the sport and a lot of those guys my heroes and people have looked up to some people a couple we've had on the show and that's incredible man it's a great it's a great it's a great feeling I don't even know how to express well you don't have to because I get a little time to do that we get time to I'm so thankful that amy was here for that [Music] hey motor sports fans thanks for watching make sure you hit 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