Anything you need, call me

On his Dirty Mo Media podcast, Dale Earnhardt Jr. addressed the exciting news that Days of Thunder was returning for a sequel, and Tom Cruise is set to star alongside Anne Hathaway in the 2028 NASCAR film.

Speaking on the Dale Jr. Download, the two-time Daytona 500 winner and NASCAR Hall of Famer said that he has been in contact with ‘the guy who’s developing the story,’ which is likely writer Will Staples. Previously, it was reported the Staples had spoken to several people inside the industry while preparing a script for Days of Thunder 2, including Kyle ‘Rowdy’ Busch before his tragic passing.

Earnhardt said that he actually brought him out to the full scale private replica of an Old West town that exists on on Dale Jr.’s property. They discussed the film, and Earnhardt fielded various questions about the world of NASCAR.

“I met with the guy who’s sort of developing the story for Days of Thunder 2 back at Phoenix at the end of last year,” said Earnhardt on his podcast this week. “He came to Phoenix, and a lot of us met with him, and I met with him. This has been going on for a while. This fella that I gave my number to, we’ve been in contact and communicating. He’s come out to the western town, and we’ve sat down in my western town just talking racing. 

“He’s like, man, I need to talk to you about racing. I’ve got questions. And I’m like, ‘Anything you need, call me, come down to Charlotte or come to my western town, whatever.’ So he comes to western town, we sit down there in western town for an hour or two, probably longer – ‘What’s this about? What does this mean? What does this do? Tell me about this. What if a driver did this? What if I wrote a guy into the story that was like this? What would he do? What would he say?’

“You know, so it’s been super fun to feel like you’re helping these folks understand. I’ve had some great meetings and conversations with them around the movie and have known that it’s been coming together for quite some time.”

Meeting with Tom Cruise at Daytona

Tom Cruise at Daytona International Speedway

During the podcast segment, Dale Jr. recalled first meeting Tom Cruise in the 1980s when Cruise visited Dale Earnhardt Sr. at his shop. They met again at Auto Club Speedway in 2008, when Dale Jr. was racing for Hendrick Motorsports. They’ve since met a third time at the request of Cruise, getting together for 20 minutes at Daytona International Speedway this past weekend. Cruise attended the race after announcing the sequel film, and even addressed the garage in the pre-race driver’s meeting.

“NASCAR was like, ‘Hey, man, Tom wants to meet you,” said Earnhardt about meeting with Cruise at Daytona. “You got to spend the night and get up in the morning, and Tom wants to meet you.’ So we went probably 9.30, 9.45 in the morning on race day for the Cup guys. We go out to the NASCAR hangar. Tom flies his own plane. Tom comes and lands his plane at Daytona. He taxis right up to the hangar.

“We walked out to the plane. He gets off, and we sit there and talk for probably 20 minutes, he and I and Amy [wife of Dale Earnhardt Jr.]. I got to meet his family and folks that were with him. He had his sister and a couple of folks with him, and all these people. He was coming out to talk at the driver’s meeting and do more with that announcement around the Days of Thunder 2.” 

Earnhardt has high hopes for the movie and what it could do for the sport, saying: “I’m excited about it. I am thrilled that they’re wanting to do this. There will be some things that they can’t lean into with the old movie, but there will be some things that they can, and I told him [Cruise], you’ve got to lean on that original film as much as possible. People are going to want to see Easter eggs and like kind of these hidden stories. It just needs to kind of tie into the original as well as possible when it should.”

“With what I’ve heard about it, man, it’s going to be a lot of fun. I can’t wait to see it come together.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2025

Earnhardt also shared a cool story from back in the late 1980s when they were filming the original Days of Thunder film in Mooresville, North Carolina.

“They filmed the barn, and when they were filming Days of Thunder’s old barn scenes, that barn was at the end of the road that I lived on,” recalled Earnhardt Jr. It was probably three miles from my house. I was 16 years old. I had my black-and-silver ’88 S10 pickup truck, and I could drive my truck up into this big giant field that was across the street from the barn. I’d park my truck, throw the tailgate down, sit on my tailgate and watch them … That’s how close it was to home.”

Even as that area has rapidly developed over the years, the old barn remains. Fans still visit it to glimpse a little piece of NASCAR film history. 

Days of Thunder 2 is scheduled to release on June 2, 2028. Cruise has noted that he plans to treat the world of NASCAR with respect, often talking about his love for the sport and its unique culture. Cruise also confirmed in a recent interview with Pat McAfee that his character (Cole Trickle) will again be racing in the upcoming film.

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