Was Dale Earnhardt Sr. offered a starring role in ‘Days of Thunder?’

Watch the NASCAR cult classic Days of Thunder and it becomes apparent the film’s main antagonist, Rowdy Burns, shares many characteristics with seven-time Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt, one of NASCAR’s all-time greats who is revered by a large segment of fans.

Both Burns and Earnhardt drive black cars with white lettering and are renowned for their aggressive, win-at-all-costs mentality behind the wheel. And that Burns and Earnhardt are similar may not have been a coincidence if a story Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared Friday at Daytona International Speedway is to be believed.

According to Earnhardt Jr., those involved with the 1990 movie met with father to ask him to play Burns, but that the elder Earnhardt declined because he didn’t want be cast as a villain. The movie starred Tom Cruise as rising stock car driver Cole Trickle, and Robert Duvall as his crew chief. Actor Michael Rooker ultimately landed the Burns role.

“Now, this is all here-say because nobody was in the room but Dad, the producer and director and Cruise,” Earnhardt said. “They go into Dad’s office and they come out 30 minutes later, and I guess they were picking Dad’s brain. But the rumor was they offered Dad the role of Rowdy Burns.

“I don’t know if that is really true or not, but that was the rumor. But Dad turned it down because he didn’t want to play the bad guy. Just a rumor, I don’t know if it is true or not. I was so young, you hear the rumor later but I never did get a chance to figure out if it was really true or not. Hard to believe if it true or not.”

While Earnhardt weren’t present for the meeting, he and his sister, Kelley, did tag along with their father to that meeting so they could meet Cruse. It was an encounter Earnhardt hasn’t forgotten.

“We are excited, we are going to meet Tom Cruise,” Earnhardt said. “Me and Kelley are there -- we are giddy. And he comes in…he is five-foot shorter than I thought he’d be and he had pimples all over his face. I remember that.”