“That’s f*ckin’ fun!” proclaimed an exhilarated Dale Earnhardt Jr. after the NASCAR icon completed a rip behind the wheel of Cleetus McFarland’s race truck modeled after Dale’s legendary late fathers’ number 3 Goodwrench Chevrolet at the Talladega Superspeedway recently. “I’m ready to go a real strip, I want to run it on a real ‘strip once,” he said. “I’d like to do this a couple more times and ramp it up a little bit. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this thing is lights out — this is fun,” he added of the truck and the experience.

Earnhardt Jr., who formed a friendship with YouTube star McFarland following his popular ARCA series debut at Daytona in February and subsequent appearance on the Dale Jr. Download podcast, was invited to join Cleetus and company for extracurriculars on the backstretch at the famed 2.66-mile Alabama oval. Waiting for him was the now twin-turbocharged, all-wheel-drive former NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Chevrolet Silverado with (most of) his name on the roof.

McFarland acquired what’s famously become known as the “Dale Truck” seven years ago. The truck was originally built by Lockland Racing and campaigned in the inaugural season of the Craftsman Truck Series by Richard Childress Racing (RCR) as the number 31 entry, driven by veteran Dave Marcus. It sported a near-identical GM Goodwrench Service scheme to the “Intimidator’s” RCR NASCAR Cup Series entry — a scheme it still wears today. Sometime between its last appearance on an oval and McFarland’s acquisition, it was outfitted with a more modern LS1 engine, a T56 transmission, and converted to be street legal. It has in the years since, been upgraded, most recently extensively overhauled by McFarland’s crew with bed-mounted turbochargers, a Harrell Engine & Dyno-built, 388 cubic inch LS, and M&M Turbo 400, and a trick FTI transfer case gearbox to facilitate the all-wheel-drive operation.

The LS mill sports Mast cylinder heads, a Frankenstein intake, billet valves, and a whole host of top-shelf parts and pieces, with a goal to belt out upwards of 2,000 horsepower at full song.

Dale Jr., with thousands of laps at 200-plus-mile-per-hour under his belt at stock car racing’s biggest and fastest superspeedway, made a pair of runs down the makeshift eighth mile on the Talladega backstretch, clocking what was an estimated mid five-second pass at around 140 mph. The sport’s most popular driver many times over, was all smiles and already champing at the bit for the next outing, even suggesting interest in visiting a dragstrip for a proper timed pass. This kind of excitement and interest in our great sport from a certifiable racing superstar who’s nearly seen and done it all is equally thrilling, and if that next step happens, we’re certainly here for it!