Amy Earnhardt Says It Was Love At First Sight With Dale Jr.: “He Looked At Me, & I Didn’t Know What To Make Of That” (2025)

Talk about a meet-cute.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his wife Amy have been married for almost 10 years now, and share two young daughters together, Isla and Nicole.

But the story of how they met is almost out of a fairytale, and Amy told the story on a recent episode of Kenny Wallace’s Kenny Conversation podcast. She went to college at the University of Kentucky, then got a job working as an interior designer at an architecture firm:

“So I went to college in Kentucky, I was a Wildcat, I actually cheered for them for a year as well, which was super fun. Went to college to be an interior designer, I started out in engineering then I went to architecture and then I’ve settled in interior design, that felt more in my wheelhouse.

So yeah, went to college for five years, ended up getting a job in Florida, and was in Jacksonville working at this architecture firm. Our director, this is kind of a little bit of a long story, our director and the guy that Dale had already hired to build the house…

He was building the house on the backside of the property here, and Dale didn’t like how close it was to his so he bought it mid-build, ended up finishing it and now our property manager lives in it. So he made a relationship with his builder through that process.

As luck, or fate, would have it, they wound up getting the job even though they were a commercial firm:

“The builder, director grew up together in Florida, so we just happened to have that connection. And when Dale decided to knock the house down that he had bought on his property and rebuild, Dave, the builder called my director, Mike and he’s like listen, this is your this is your dream. He’s been a NASCAR fan his entire life, he’s like, you have to put a bid in on this job and that’s how we got it.

We weren’t home builders, we were a commercial architecture firm. We didn’t do houses at all really, we did apartment buildings, doctors offices, malls, all kinds of stuff like that. So I don’t know, it felt a little cosmic that we got the job to begin with, and I met him in a meeting at JRM just looking at plans about the house that we are now in.”

Like I said, the stuff of fairytales.

When asked about who made the first move, Amy recalled Dale hardly looking up from the house plans. She says at one point, though, they made eye contact, and she knew immediately there was something more there and she almost cried on the spot:

“Honestly, the first meeting, and I wasn’t looking. I don’t think he was looking. He hardly looked up from the plans that at one point, I’m talking about something, I don’t remember what it was, and he turned over and then we made eye contact and I was like, ‘Uh, what was that?’ I, like, almost got a little truly choked up.

And so in the car, we drove all the way up here from Jacksonville, on the car ride home, my boss is, like ‘I think he kinda was a little smitten with you.’ And I looked at her, and I was like ‘What was that? I don’t know what that was, but he looked at me and I don’t even know what to make of that.’

And so we didn’t have conversations from then on for a while. He would kind of avoid meetings, he was busy doing this, that and the other.”

Around six months later, they were back in town for more meetings, and Jr.’s team invited everyone to his former bar in Charlotte, Whiskey River, to hang out during a special event.

Amy went, danced and had fun with everyone there, when Dale’s friend and former spotter TJ Majors pulled her over to talk to Dale… kinda middle school, but sweet, and obviously, it worked:

“And then it was probably six or eight months later, we had gone to eat dinner with Kelley, and we were all gonna go down to Whiskey River down in Charlotte, he had the bar then. And I think Gary Allen was doing an opening or something.

So we got invited to go hang out, and that night is when, at one point TJ Majors pulls me over. Because I’m just dancing doing my own thing, TJ Majors walk me over to Dale‘s little booth and says, ‘Hey, come sit by my friend.’ And it wasn’t ‘Hey, come talk to Dale, it was, ‘Hey, my friend wants to hang out with you.’

Which is super weird. But who knows, those boys, the way they operated back then is really funny. So I sat down, and we hung out and talked all night and had the best time.”

They’ve built a beautiful family, and business, together, and clearly, were meant to be from the first moment they met.

You can watch her talk about it here, it’s really sweet:

Amy Earnhardt Says It Was Love At First Sight With Dale Jr.: “He Looked At Me, & I Didn’t Know What To Make Of That” (2025)
Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Edmund Hettinger DC

Last Updated:

Views: 6275

Rating: 4.8 / 5 (78 voted)

Reviews: 93% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Edmund Hettinger DC

Birthday: 1994-08-17

Address: 2033 Gerhold Pine, Port Jocelyn, VA 12101-5654

Phone: +8524399971620

Job: Central Manufacturing Supervisor

Hobby: Jogging, Metalworking, Tai chi, Shopping, Puzzles, Rock climbing, Crocheting

Introduction: My name is Edmund Hettinger DC, I am a adventurous, colorful, gifted, determined, precious, open, colorful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.