Dale Earnhardt Jr. Breaks Silence on His Social Media Blunder Fueling Zane Smith Conspiracies

NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. has shared his thoughts on his social media blunder involving Zane Smith.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Breaks Silence on His Social Media Blunder Fueling Zane Smith Conspiracies

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Zane Smith (Via imago)

NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Eranhardt Jr. is known for always being active on social media and always being engaged with the latest news from the garage. But this week he made a blunder no one expected him to make and that fueled conspiracy around Zane Smith.

He retweeted a post from Trackhouse Racing that was three years old announcing the signing of Zane Smith, who is no longer with the team. He thought Trackhouse signed the racer to replace Connor Zilsich, who is set to exit Justin Marks’ team to join Hendrick Motorsports in 2028. The racing legend checked the legitimacy of the tweet but failed to check the date.

Three years ago, Trackhouse signed Zane Smith to some sort of a futures contract in a way. Someone retweeted it. I looked at it, read it, and I thought, ‘Oh, well, that’s a nice, that’s a good response to Zilisch.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. revealed via his podcast.

Further talking about the point, Dale Earnhardt Jr. admitted that he was hesitant to initially repost it, thinking it might be fake news. The Hall of Famer has now learned the lesson that he has to go through everything before deciding on what to post on his social media.

And it never really occurred to me that this was three years ago. I had a tinge of skepticism, right? I was like, I’m not real sure. I looked at everything but the date. I mean, I looked at the Trackhouse handle. Is this a parody account? You know, what’s going on here? And I’m like, oh, it checks out. Okay, hit retweet.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. added via Bless your ‘Hardt’ podcast.
RELATED
Ryan Blaney Has “All the Confidence in the World” in the 2026 Championship Chase

It was a lightbulb moment for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Later talking about the point, Junior revealed that he started getting called out an hour after he retweeted the old post. The first comment in the post being Carson Hocevar congratulating the racer for the move made it special, considering they are now bitter rivals.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (via Imago)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (via Imago)

Like an hour later, Elijah’s like, ‘Dude, did you mean to retweet this?’ I’m like, yeah, I did. And he’s like, it’s three years ago. I’m like, oh, yeah, well, now this makes sense. And everybody’s like, ‘Man, why did he retweet this?’ Interestingly enough, the first comment on the tweet three years ago was Carson Hocevar saying, that’s awesome, Zane. Way to go.  And they’re like ****** bitter enemies right now for some reason.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.

Further talking about the point, the veteran admitted that this was his lightbulb moment or the product of a hungover. Fortunately, not commenting on the post as he usually does because of the hesitancy helped him to avoid further embarrassment.

Everybody thinks that I had this sort of like light bulb moment. I guess you could say, yes, I was hungover.  Was I clear-minded? Yes. But I also wasn’t sure what I was looking at. So, I didn’t want to make a comment. But I did retweet it thinking that maybe it was legit.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. added.

The comments from the champion driver are on point and hilarious. The mistake has once again restarted the conversation about who will Trackhouse sign to replace Zilisch and it would be interesting to see how Junior would respond when the announcement is made.

Also Read: Kyle Larson Urges NASCAR to Fix “Scary” Gateway Pit-Road