Wyatt Miller is at the start of his racing career and is also the defending champion of the AMSOIL Champ Off-Road Series Pro Spec series. However, it is rather easy to get overshadowed when one has a legacy name associated with them.

Matt Weaver, a NASCAR journalist, used Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s name to report an incident on X (formerly known as Twitter) from a Late Model series race that took place on Friday.

He wrote, “Dale Earnhardt's grandson involved in a 'monster truck' Late Model incident tonight.”

This prompted Kelley Earnhardt, Miller’s mother, to respond to the tweet, as it completely removed his real name in favor of the late NASCAR legend, who happens to be Wyatt’s grandfather.

“Matt—his name is Wyatt Miller,” she replied to him.

What followed was a series of tweets between Weaver and Kelley. The former defended his move by saying he has a business to run.

While the headline of the main article indeed uses Wyatt Miller’s full name, the decision to use Dale Earnhardt’s name in the tweet was made to draw more attention to the actual content piece.

Nonetheless, Kelley calmly addressed that it creates pressure on the family itself, but she also remains grateful for Weaver’s work.

When The Name Becomes Bigger Than The Sport

While this might be a small incident, it represents a far bigger problem than we think. Matt Weaver’s decision to use Dale Sr.'s name for a headline basically diminishes Wyatt Miller’s achievements as a racer.

To be fair, Earnhardt is one of the most well-known names in and out of NASCAR circles. Dale Earnhardt remains one of the greatest to have raced in the sport.

However, when a youngster comes from a legacy background, it often puts pressure on them, and viewers take no time in drawing comparisons with their predecessors.

This is a problem that seems to plague various other sports, and not just NASCAR. However, regardless of the varying opinions, Wyatt Miller will somehow always be around Dale Earnhardt's remarkable legacy.

Written by

Aaradhya Singh

Edited by

Kaamna Dwivedi