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The Earnhardt name is synonymous with stock car racing. From Ralph Earnhardt racing in the early dirt-track days of NASCAR, to his son Dale winning seven Cup Series championships and becoming the sport’s biggest star, and to Dale Jr. following in his father’s tire tracks all the way up to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the Earnhardts have left a legacy of excellence that has not come without terrible sacrifice. Prime Video‘s four-part documentary series Earnhardt looks at the family on and off the track, and how an emotionally distant and success-driven Dale had difficulty connecting to his daughter Kelley and son Dale Jr. Ultimately, as Dale Jr.’s NASCAR career was on the rise and his relationship with his father grew closer, tragedy struck the family and the sports world as Dale was killed in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Dale Jr.

Dale Earnhardt's death in 2001 sent shockwaves throughout the world of NASCAR unlike any racer's death before or since. "It's not that people didn't die racing," says documentarian Daniel Lindsay, executive producer and co-showrunner of Prime Video's docuseries Earnhardt. "That was apart of the sport. It was just so seemingly unbelievable that the star of the sport would lose his life in that way."

Despite not growing up as a NASCAR fan, Lindsay was nevertheless drawn to Earnhardt's rags-to-riches story. "I came of age in the '80s and '90s, and was aware that there was a racer named Dale Earnhardt," Lindsay told Gold Derby, "but I didn't really know much about him. I found myself fascinated by his life and the life of his family." Born in small-town North Carolina to short-track racer Ralph Earnhardt, Dale "was responsible for the growth of NASCAR," and "through grit and determination...