NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt Jr. voted into Motorsports Hall of Fame

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2026.
• The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America honors individuals from various racing disciplines.

The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, the most diverse hall in all of automation, honors giants within their respective fields each year during the induction ceremony in Daytona Beach. 

But Daytona being Daytona, and stock-car racing very much part of this hall’s universe, the undeniable headliner of the 2026 class will be Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Junior Earnhardt is one of seven from the motorsports world who will join the eclectic roll call of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.

The other 2026 inductees: Steve Gibbs (drag racing), Pete Lyons (media), John Morton (sports cars), Kenny Roberts Jr. (motorcycles), Sammy Swindell (open-wheel) and Dave Villwock (powerboats).

The 38th induction ceremony will take place March 9-10. Voting is tasked to more than 200 electors, with roughly half of them being past inductees. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s hall credentials

Earnhardt, a 2022 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee, is well known as a third-generation racer who won a pair of Xfinity Series championships and 26 Cup Series races, including two Daytona 500s (2004, 2014). He also won the Cup Series’ Most Popular Driver award 15 straight years.

He’s currently a championship team owner in the Xfinity Series with his JR Motorsports team, co-owned by his sister Kelly Earnhardt Miller.

“Once again, our voters have chosen a group of all-time motorsports greats,” said George Levy, president of the MSHFA, which moved to Daytona Beach from Michigan in 2016. “The Class of 2026 is another revered and accomplished group of racers, and we can’t wait to welcome them into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America next March.”

Dale Jr. joins Amelia Earhart in this Hall of Fame

The hall includes champions and stars from every form of racing (four wheels or two), including the familiar — A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Richard Petty, Don Garlits, etc. But it also includes those who earned their fame on the water or through the air. 

And that aviation group doesn’t just include those who raced airplanes, but served as groundbreakers of various sorts — Jimmie Doolittle, Amelia Earhart, Howard Hughes among them.

NASCAR is well represented — Dale Jarrett was inducted this year. Every Cup Series champ no longer active is an inductee, including Dale Earnhardt Sr., who was part of the 2002 class with Gaston Chevrolet, Gordon Johncock and others.

— Email Ken Willis at [email protected]