Kerry Dale Earnhardt (born December 8, 1969) is a former NASCAR driver and the elder son of seven-time Winston Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt. He is the half-brother of current Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. He was employed by Dale Earnhardt, Inc. as a consultant, specializing in driver development, until 2011. His younger son, Jeffrey Earnhardt, began racing for DEI in 2007, and currently competes in the Sprint Cup Series. Kerry is known for his physical similarity to his father.

Kerry's mother, Latane Brown, was Dale Earnhardt's first wife. Dale Earnhardt was 18-years old and a local North Carolina dirt racer at the time of Kerry's birth. The couple divorced when Kerry was only one year of age. Brown eventually married Jack Key, who adopted Kerry; Kerry used his stepfather's last name for much of his life. Until he was 16, Kerry saw little of his biological father.

Prior to his racing career, Earnhardt dropped out of high school and worked several odd jobs to support his family. This included working at a Pizza Hut, and working in the Cannon Mills in Kannapolis, North Carolina, where his grandfather Ralph Earnhardt also worked.

Earnhardt had driven race cars in the early 1990s, he entered the racing world as a competitor in 1992 racing street stocks. That same season Earnhardt raced in the NASCAR Goody's Dash Series Earnhardt raced various tracks in 1993 including the East Carolina Motor Speedway near Robersonville, North Carolina and Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia. He scored two top 5s and 8 top 10s in 11 races, and was the 1992 Rookie of the Year.

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