Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants Days of Thunder 2 to keep a clear link to the original NASCAR movie. The NASCAR Hall of Famer recently spoke with the person working on the sequel and urged the team to use details from the 1990 film. Days of Thunder 2, starring Tom Cruise and Anne Hathaway, is scheduled for release on June 2, 2028.
Earnhardt said he is excited about the project but knows some parts of the original Days of Thunder may not return. Still, he wants the sequel to give NASCAR fans familiar details. One location matters to him more than most: an old barn near Mooresville, North Carolina, that appeared in the original NASCAR movie.
Days of Thunder 2 Faces a Link to the Original NASCAR Movie
Earnhardt said the filmmakers should make full use of the original Days of Thunder when building the sequel.
“I’m excited about it. I am thrilled that they’re wanting to do this,” Earnhardt said.
The former NASCAR driver recently spoke with the person developing the story for Days of Thunder 2. He said some elements from the first NASCAR movie may not be possible to bring back, but other details can still connect the two films.
“There’ll be some things that they can’t lean into with the old movie, but there’ll be some things that they can, and I told him. I’m like, man, you’ve got to lean on that original film as much as possible,” Earnhardt said.
“People are going to want to see Easter eggs, and I can’t wait to see it come together.”
The NASCAR Movie Barn Still Stands in Mooresville
One of the locations Earnhardt wants to see in Days of Thunder 2 is an old barn west of Mooresville near Highway 150.
The barn was used during production of the original Days of Thunder, which began filming in December 1989 and finished in May 1990.
Earnhardt has a personal connection to the location. As a teenager, he lived near the property and watched the NASCAR movie being filmed from across the road.
“When they were filming Days of Thunder, that barn was at the end of the road that I lived on, and I could drive my truck up into this big, giant field that was across the street from the barn.”
“I’d park my truck, throw the tailgate down, and sit on my tailgate and watch them. That’s how close it was to home.”
Days of Thunder 2 Could Bring Back a Piece of NASCAR History
The barn remains in place decades after the original NASCAR movie was filmed, but its condition has deteriorated.
Earnhardt wants the location to appear again in Days of Thunder 2.
“The barn has to make an appearance. It has to,” he said.
The area around the barn has changed heavily since the original Days of Thunder. Earnhardt pointed to the development surrounding the property.
“It’s incredible that it’s still sitting there because literally every piece of property around it within about a three-mile radius has been developed into commercial property.”
With Tom Cruise returning as Cole Trickle, Days of Thunder 2 will continue the story from a NASCAR movie that became closely linked with the sport. For Earnhardt, bringing back the old barn would preserve a direct physical connection between the original film, Mooresville and NASCAR history.
NASCAR Hall of Famer Fears Tom Cruise’s Days of Thunder 2 Could Lose This Piece of History