Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was asked last weekend in Daytona to share his comments on the altercation that occured between Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya under caution during the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

"I was really surprised. I hadn't seen that since East Carolina Motor Speedway in '94. You rarely see guys wrecking each other under caution," Dale, Jr. replied, reminiscing of his early days behind the wheel of a stock car.

That statement brought back plenty of memories to the former promoter of East Carolina Motor Speedway.

It is no secret Dale, Jr. cut his racing teeth on the short tracks of the Carolina's during the early to mid 1990's. One of his favorite tracks back then was the D shaped 3/8 mile banked track located in Robersonville, North Carolina.

On an October weekend in 1994 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his Chance, Inc. Late Model Stock Car team rolled into the East Carolina Motor Speedway for the biggest challenge of the young drivers career to that point, the Greenville Merchants 300. The likeable kid from Mooresville had driven a few 200 lappers but this would be the first 300 lap race on his resume.

Much to the delight of the throng of Earnhardt supporters in the grandstands, Dale, Jr. promptly put his #3 Western Steer sponsored Chevrolet on the pole and set a new track record in the process.

Junior led quite a bit of the event prior to mandatory pit stops taking place and avoided trouble between two local competitors who were oblivious to anything except doing whatever they could to knock each other out of the race. That included crashing into each other under caution.

Proving he was a chip off the old block, Earnhardt, Jr. drove all three hundred laps with a vengeance, making up a lap on the field under green to finish third.

The #3 car left the track that night without a scratch, something his competitors were unable to accomplish.