Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his wife welcome their second child

Retired NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his wife, Amy, welcomed a new baby to their family on Oct. 12!

Fans of two-time Daytona 500 winner heard the news directly from the new dad in an episode of his podcast, Dale Jr. Download, that was released on Oct. 15.

“Obviously, me and Amy have been waiting on the birth of our second child and that happened Monday,” he said, opening the latest podcast episode. “So, we got a new addition!”

He tweeted to fans who were wondering why the latest episode was late to come out. “Well, there’s a good reason,” he wrote.

The new baby girl, who the couple named Nicole Lorraine, is their second daughter. The couple already has another little girl, Isla Rose, who is 2 years old and is shown as a baby in the photo below.

Nicole’s name combines two generations of Earnhardt Jr.’s family. Nicole is Amy’s middle name, and Lorraine is Dale Jr.’s mother’s middle name.

During the podcast episode that included the big announcement, Earnhardt Jr. shared a little about the challenge of choosing a baby name.

“It’s funny how you choose the name,” he joked. “It’s not an easy process. It’s funny because you’re not going to choose it, the wife’s going to choose it. But, then you’re involved … so you got one foot in and one foot out for the guy, anyways, it’s an odd position to be in.”

The proud new papa said his wife’s pregnancy went well overall but felt longer than usual because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“But, we’re not gonna complain, because we’ve got a healthy little baby girl,” Earnhardt Jr. said.

Back in March, Amy surprised her husband with the baby news and recorded his reaction. She dressed up Isla Rose in a T-shirt that said “Super Amazing Sister.” It took dad a few seconds to grasp what the shirt meant.

The Earnhardt Jr. family has many reasons to celebrate their health and happiness. Back in August 2015, the family was involved in a private plane crash in Tennessee when the Cessna Citation jet they were in rolled off the runway and caught fire after landing. Fortunately, all aboard the aircraft survived and suffered only minor injuries.

Congrats to the entire family on this sweet new addition!