Earnhardt Jr. attended the high performance driving school run by Andy Hillenburg and began his racing career at the late age of 17 with his father, competing in the Street Stock division at Concord, North Carolina's Motorsport Park. His first race car was a 1979 Monte Carlo that he co-owned with Kerry. By age 19, after two seasons of driving Street Stock Division, Earnhardt Jr. had honed his driving abilities to the point of joining the Late Model Stock Car Division. He competed on the North and South Carolina short tracks driving a No. 3 Buick. While he did run various tracks during this time, Earnhardt Jr. primarily focused his efforts at the Myrtle Beach Speedway in South Carolina and the East Carolina Motor Speedway in Robersonville, North Carolina, where he captured the pole for the Greenville Merchants 300 on October 28, 1994. There, he developed an in-depth knowledge of chassis setup and car preparation, while racing against his siblings. He worked at his father's dealership as a mechanic while he went to Mitchell Community College to earn an associate degree in automotive technology.