The real answer is, it’s complicated. I thought this quote was interesting and telling though.

Dale’s daughter Kelley recalled an incident that occurred in her childhood, when her father placed a bumper sticker reading “American By Birth / Southern By The Grace Of God” on the rear of his truck. The family’s black housekeeper mentioned that the sticker, which featured the Confederate flag, made her uncomfortable. Dale immediately took a pen knife and slashed the flag off his truck, leaving the expression of Southern pride while divorcing it from the region’s sour history

https://theoutline.com/post/7328/dale-earnhardt-sr-very-intriguing-person