If you flip back the pages from Jeff Gluck’s 12 Questions Interview archives to 2017, you’ll find that Dale Earnhardt Jr was asked a peculiar question: Should fans come over for an autograph when he is dining out in a restaurant? A straight answer to a straight question: “I don’t like people talking over my food… I don’t like my dog even being near me when I’m eating, breathing all over my plate. It’s gross.” In all likelihood, his pets may as well rain spittle all over the place for all he cared!

That was years before Gus and Junebug made an entry into his life. Over the years, Junior has had many pets. If you’re his longtime fan, you’ve probably seen his bulldog Killer show up once in a while back in the early 2010s. Personally for Junior, he never used to like having a dog around at the racetrack unless there was grass near the garage. You see, bathroom breaks weren’t a lot of work that way. But there was one dog that used to be a constant almost every week.

It was Amy Reimann’s Pomeranian, and it was named Junebug, the same nickname Dale Sr coined for Junior. Whether or not if it is co-incidence, we don’t know. Amy and Junior were not married then. “I don’t claim it. He’s pretty cool, but I don’t admit it. He goes every week because he’s so small, he’s easy to carry around,” Junior said in 2013. Twelve years on, a lot has changed. Amy and Junior got married and had two beautiful daughters, and all this while, Junebug has always been around. Come this week’s podcast dump, the 50-year-old came to a tough realisation: Junebug’s days are numbered.

In a new Dale Jr. Download episode, the 26-time Cup Series race winner stated: “Our little Junebug, we got a Pomeranian, Junebug, we got an Irish setter, Gus. Junebug has got to be 15-years-old. June Bug had a stroke. June Bug has lost some feeling, I believe, in some parts of his body… he’s doing that on a couple of legs where he is not sure where the ground’s at. And he falls over – he falls over like a fainting goat. And not moving very well, for about two days, he was mute.

“I just got a text from Amy that he is barking. So yesterday, I got him just to growl, just a little bit because I play with him about his food. He won’t eat, hasn’t been eating. He has been drinking some water. We are feeding him peanut butter off our fingertips. That’s about only way we can get him to take anything down. So it’s touch and go for Junebug.

“The prognosis from the vet was that he might have anywhere between 2 to 6 months. But I would say he has improved over the last couple of days and Amy just text me and let me know he’s starting to bark a little bit. So he is feeling somewhat better. But that’s a tough one cause that is Amy’s little man. You know, of course, I love the dog too. He has been around forever. But this has been tough on Amy.”

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As Junebug goes through this difficult time, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his family try to make him as comfortable as possible. Nevertheless, the little furball’s memory is already immortal in other people’s hearts.

Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Junebug already got a spot in history!

Well, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s motorsports fame is nothing short of extraordinary. A legacy that started with his father, Dale Earnhardt’s 7-time Cup Series championship career, and continued with Dale Jr. at the helm. From being an active Cup Series driver to a successful Xfinity Series team owner, Dale Jr’s fame knows no bounds. Accordingly, his beloved dogs are also part of this rich legacy.

Both Gus and Junebug have been featured in the headlines several times. For instance, when Dale Jr. opened his third Whiskey River restaurant at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, it had interesting features. Those included meaty entrees, a wall covered with belt buckles, and a stationary mechanical bull named Junebug—a fitting tribute to the fierce little furball at home.

But people remember both Gus and Junebug in another special way. Starting in 2017, the Dale and Amy Earnhardt Fund supports Nationwide Children’s Hospital. It helps in the area of pediatric injury rehabilitation, research and prevention, brain injury rehabilitation, head and spinal cord injuries, and other physically disabling conditions and injuries. What’s more, Dale Earnhardt Jr’s efforts resulted in the hospital installing hand-carved animal friends, considering the positive impact of animals on ailing patients. Among those hand-carved pieces were none other than figurines of Gus and Junebug. For each figurine sold, $10 went to benefit the Dale and Amy Earnhardt Fund at Nationwide Children’s.

Evidently, Junebug’s dire condition will leave a long trail of people worried. Hopefully, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s furry friend will pull through.