Dale Earnhardt Jr. Reveals His Surprising Connection to New ‘Days of Thunder’ Movie

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wasn’t supposed to be at Daytona International Speedway when Tom Cruise arrived.

NASCAR changed that.

Earnhardt revealed on the “Dale Jr. Download” that he had initially planned to leave Daytona after the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race. Instead, NASCAR asked him to spend another night in town for a reason that didn’t require much convincing: Cruise wanted to meet him.

The two eventually spent about 20 minutes together Saturday morning after Cruise flew himself into Daytona.

But the meeting wasn’t simply a chance encounter between one of NASCAR’s biggest names and one of Hollywood’s biggest stars.

Earnhardt has also been talking with Will Staples, the screenwriter working on the new “Days of Thunder” movie, about what a modern sequel can take from the 1990 original.

Suddenly, Junior’s unexpected Saturday morning with Cruise makes a lot more sense.

NASCAR Changed Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Plans for Tom Cruise

Earnhardt said NASCAR approached him while he was at Daytona for the O’Reilly race.

“We went to the O’Reilly race. Well, NASCAR was like, ‘Hey, man, Tom wants to meet you. You got to spend the night and get up in the morning, and Tom wants to meet you,'” Earnhardt said. “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.”

Then Cruise arrived in appropriately Tom Cruise fashion.

“Tom flies his own plane. Tom lands his plane at Daytona,” Earnhardt continued. “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. I got to meet his family and folks that were with him.”

Cruise’s Daytona appearance was already notable. He and Anne Hathaway visited the track as work continues on the new “Days of Thunder” movie, and Cruise spoke to Cup Series drivers ahead of the Coke Zero Sugar 400.

What Earnhardt revealed afterward added another piece to NASCAR’s growing involvement with the project.

Dale Jr. Has Already Talked With the ‘Days of Thunder’ Writer

Earnhardt said he first met Staples around NASCAR’s 2025 season finale at Phoenix. The two later reconnected at Earnhardt’s North Carolina home and discussed what could work in the new movie.

Junior’s message has essentially been to respect the original without trying to recreate 1990.

“I’m excited about it. I am thrilled that they’re wanting to do this,” Earnhardt said. “And so I can’t wait to see, you know, in talking with Will, I keep telling him, there’ll be some things that they can’t lean into with the old movie, but there’ll be some things that they can.”

Earnhardt has also encouraged Staples to include Easter eggs that longtime “Days of Thunder” fans will recognize.

It’s an intriguing connection for a sequel faced with a difficult assignment.

The NASCAR that Cole Trickle entered in 1990 isn’t the NASCAR Cruise will return to more than three decades later. The cars, technology and culture surrounding the sport have all changed dramatically.

Earnhardt understands both versions of it.

He grew up inside the NASCAR world portrayed in the original film, became one of the sport’s biggest stars himself and has since emerged as one of its most prominent historians and storytellers.

That doesn’t make Junior a screenwriter or give him control over what ultimately reaches theaters. But it does make him a particularly useful person to have in the conversation.

And now he’s talked NASCAR with both the man writing Cole Trickle’s return and the man climbing back into the role.

Not bad for a Daytona weekend Earnhardt originally planned to leave early.

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