Dale Earnhardt Jr. is officially a NASCAR Hall of Famer. The third generation driver got the call on Tuesday evening that he will join a prestigious group that has already been inducted into the Hall. Now, with saying that, there are many out there that are questioning why Earnhardt was even voted in as a first ballot inductee in the first place.

Their ammo is that it was a popularity award and that the only reason that he’s in is based off of his name. Sure, he would agree with you on some of that. There was a time in Earnhardt’s career that he questioned on why he was even in the rides that he was given. He felt like without the name “Dale Earnhardt Jr” then Hendrick Motorsports likely would have let him go or he would have been fired from DEI much sooner.

Earnhardt, joined HMS in 2008 and went through seven years where he visited victory lane just twice. He was winless in his final year at DEI in 2007 too. In a team of that caliber, that wasn’t good enough.

But, Earnhardt also picked the pace up in 2014 and showed why he earned that ride off talent, not name recognition too. That’s why I think if you use the name part of the argument, you’re not telling the whole story. I’ll tell you the whole story. I have time.

Say what you want about his name then, I hear you and will raise you a Budweiser,  but Earnhardt won 26 times in NASCAR’s premiere series. He won 24 times in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. While he didn’t win a Cup championship, he won two in NXS competition.

Plus, he won two Daytona 500’s and was a 15-time Most Popular Driver award winner. The reason the sport is even as relevant as it is today was because of him. Period. So yes, this is a little bit about his name.

Keep following along. This ride is about to speed up to around 190 mph and take you to the high banks of Daytona and make you feel for Earnhardt Jr. in a way. You ready? Buckle up.

His father was an icon in this sport. You can’t deny that. You can’t really mention the word “NASCAR” and not have the name “Earnhardt” come out shortly after. His dad, Dale Earnhardt Sr., was one of the greatest to ever strap into a race car in any era of racing, period. He was as popular as they come. 76 wins and seven championships earn that right and Earnhardt Sr. was ready for that role.

Earnhardt Jr. meanwhile, he had a ton of recognition coming up through the ranks as “Sr’s boy” but was no where near ready for what was about to ensue on that day of Feb. 18, 2001 when his father was tragically killed in the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

The whole weight of the NASCAR world, the whole fan base, everyone was left looking at Earnhardt Jr. for comfort and guidance on how to move on. How can someone grieve the loss of their father in a public setting? How can someone grieve the loss of their own father when the death was a direct result of an incident in the same profession? Now, he had to not only deal with it as himself personally, he had to do so in the mainstream public.

Earnhardt, didn’t necessarily want that attention. He was just fine starting his Cup career off in his fathers very large shadow. After all, that’s when he was thriving the most, of having his dad by his side. His dad was always at the track or tinkering with his cars. Father-son time between the two used to be few and far between. So, Earnhardt Jr. took up racing to be closer to his dad in a way and the two were bonding like never before. Then, just a few years later, it was over.

In his first full time season (1998) in NXS, he won seven times and the season championship. In 1999, he won six more times and was a champion again. No Truck Series background. No ARCA either and by 2000, he was a Cup driver. Just a late start to racing on local tracks and boom there he was in ’98 in NASCAR in their version of AAA. Two years later he moves up to his dads team (DEI) on the Cup level.

It was a quick rise.

Pressure was there, sure. But he had his dad by his side to keep some of it away from the younger driver. He’d win twice in his rookie season including his first victory coming at the Texas Motor Speedway in just his 11th career start. Talking about raising the bar of expectations.

Then, in the first race of his second year in NASCAR’s premiere series, his dad is killed in a race — the same race as Jr. was in, and one spot behind him while he was blocking everyone off in order for Jr. and his teammate Michael Waltrip to duke it out for a Daytona 500 triumph.

Now, the whole world is watching. How will Jr. react? He was immediately promoted to the king of NASCAR when he really only had 3 combined years of NASCAR experience, NXS time included, prior. His dad had such a large impact on people’s lives, they NEEDED Earnhardt Jr. for healing but Earnhardt NEEDED time himself. The one person he needed, he was burying.

Earnhardt Jr. didn’t necessarily ask for this position to be in. He was forming his own nitch making his own name while allowing his dad to keep everything going elsewhere. He needed more time to grow to become the face of the sport, not 40 races.

What he did in the 2001 Pepsi 400, the first NASCAR race back to Daytona since his fathers death, well it was the healing that everyone needed and gave Earnhardt Nation full reason to believe in Earnhardt Jr. carrying this name on. Win his first career race in just 11 starts and now winning the first race back to Daytona since that dark day in NASCAR history.

That July night in Daytona, rooted Earnhardt Jr’s name as the chosen one to replace and at that point, overtake his dad in the record books.

So, would a name mean something in this? You bet your ass it does. Earnhardt Jr., carried on his daddy’s legacy and was helping keep NASCAR relevant too. But, he also wasn’t his daddy either. He’d be the first to tell you that as well.

“There were a lot of people who wanted me to be Dale Earnhardt, not just be the Intimidator and all that, but they wanted me to be as successful as he was and drive like him aggressively and spinning people out,” Earnhardt Jr. admitted on Tuesday night.

Earnhardt admitted the pressure amounted and grew on him. It took him to some dark places. He’d win 15 of his 26 career races in the first five seasons including the 2004 Daytona 500. But, there was something missing still — his dad. It never fully felt right.

That’s when the spiral came. He’d win just once in 2005, one more time in 2006 and none in 2007.

“There was a point in my career where I started to think I’m not going to win seven championships, I’m not maybe going to win one championship, I might not win 100 races, might not win even 40 races, so what can I do?” Earnhardt Jr. continued.

So, he turned into what he could do best, use his name and keep the sport popular. Without him, it’s hard telling where NASCAR would be right now.

Would he be as successful as his father was on track? No. Not many can. Those are unfair expectations for any driver in this world, let alone his son with the same name So, he found himself and figured his popularity off the track could help fuel this sport for the future and being just an above average driver on the track was good enough to do that.

In 2014 and 2015, Earnhardt thrived. He gained his popularity and won a combined seven times in 72 starts including the 2014 Daytona 500. His dad didn’t even win two Daytona 500’s. It took him 20 attempts to finally win one and his son won two in a span of 11 years.

“I know my numbers. I know the wins, the lack of a championship. I know what my numbers are and I feel like I was chosen based on that but also on the impact off the race track and being an ambassador for the sport,” Earnhardt Jr. said of his induction.

So, is a name something? Sure. But, you also have to look at the other nine people on the list that he was up against for this induction. Two of the 10 were going to make it in. Out of the other nine on his ballot, only one of them won a championship in NASCAR’s premiere series at that was a crew chief (Harry Hyde). No one has as many NXS titles than Earnhardt did. The only one with even more career wins on that list than Earnhardt was Carl Edwards — but he only beat Jr. by two (28-26). Edwards, never won a Daytona 500 while Jr. won two.

In fact, if you combine total national wins in NASCAR, no one on that list has more than Earnhardt Jr.

So, is it about a name? Sort of. But, is Earnhardt a Hall of Famer based off of his on track success? Absolutely.