NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. opens up on blockbuster offer from Joe Gibbs Racing

NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. has opened up on the time he received a blockbuster offer to join Joe Gibbs Racing.

The two-time Daytona 500 winner started his Cup Series career at his father's team, Dale Earnhardt, Inc., in 1999, and remained there until a move to Hendrick Motorsports in 2008.

However, as it turns out, Earnhardt Jr. had more than one offer on the table at the time, opening up about a meeting with legendary NASCAR team owner Joe Gibbs on his Dale Jr. Download podcast this week.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. reveals huge Joe Gibbs Racing offer

“I talked to Richard Childress about the three, I talked to Joe Gibbs a lot about the 18,” Earnhardt Jr. explained on his Dale Jr. Download podcast. “And I wanted to go drive for Rick [Hendrick] really bad.

“I felt like Hendrick, I don’t know, there's a family connection there, my grandfather worked there at Rick’s forever, and I'm glad I made that decision. I always wonder what it would have been like to go to Joe Gibbs.

“The connection to Washington was a big deal for me. I couldn't go to Richard’s to do the three (the car his late father had driven), and I didn't want to go to Richard's and do any other number, it was never going to be good enough, no matter how much success he had.

“I went all the way to Washington to meet with Joe,” he continued. “We were at Dan Snyder's house, Joe wanted us to meet there. I guess they thought that the at the time Washington Redskins connection was a big plus in the negotiation.

“Really intimidating, honestly. In that environment, it was hard to think about what racing that Joe Gibbs would be like. Joe gave us a term sheet, and the numbers on that made me physically nauseous because it was so big.

“I had been racing with DEI for a long time under a very modest contract, and when I saw what value was out there for me, and that was the first time, I think the first time I got a term sheet was through Joe Gibbs, it was insane.

“And I was like, ‘Oh,’ I said, ‘We gotta go home.’ Like, I don’t know what Rick’s going to put in front of me, but I’m ready to leave. It didn’t make me not want to do it, it just made me want to go home and sit down and get somewhere safe and calm down. I mean, just me and [sister] Kelley, I'm looking at her going home.”

NASCAR TODAY: Bubba Wallace dealt penalty blow as Daytona 500 winner makes shock return

Earnhardt Jr. on Hendrick Motorsports negotiations

The meeting eventually led to Earnhardt Jr. not wanting to know about the numbers when it came to his negotiations to join Hendrick Motorsports, he went on to explain.

“This is massive. What you've put in front of me is so overwhelming that I have to think about it,” Earnhardt Jr. told Gibbs at the time.

“I've got to take a couple days, and Joe was like, ‘I understand, no problem,’ and then I went to see Rick, he tried to give me a term sheet and I said, ‘You don't show that to me.’

“I was like, ‘I don't even want to see it.’ I was like, ‘You and Kelley discuss the numbers. I don't even want to look at it. I don’t even wanna know what you're gonna pay me. I said, ‘I want painted side skirts.'"

Earnhardt Jr. went on to sign on the dotted line for Hendrick Motorsports and race 340 times in the No. 88 Chevrolet, winning nine races, including his second Daytona 500 in 2014.