Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s daughter ‘made my heart explode’ with these words to her mom

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s young daughter drew tears from her dad and his legion of fans with her first “I love you,” spoken to her mom.

“A little girl told her mother that she loved her as she went to sleep tonight and it made my heart explode and my eyes fill with tears,” the retired NASCAR driver tweeted at 9:45 p.m. Friday about his daughter, Isla Rose Earnhardt, who is 1 year and 4 months old.

“She did say daddy first, so you deserve this one honey,” Earnhardt Jr. said in the tweet.

That last line from dad prompted this reply from his wife on Saturday morning:

“Currently trying to bribe her with candy to say it again,” Amy Earnhardt tweeted.

Isla Rose was born on May 1, 2018. She is the couple’s first child.

Earnhardt’s tweet drew 16,200 likes by 11 a.m. Saturday.

Earnhardt Jr.’s niece Karsyn Elledge replied with a GIF image of CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert appearing to break down in tears.

“I just feel like my heart is going to burst because it’s full of rainbows,” read the words on the GIF.

“Congrats. Both of you,” NASCAR on NBC tweeted with a heart emoji. Earnhardt Jr. is an NBC Sports racing analyst.

Thousands of fans also replied to their favorite driver’s tweet.

“Made my eyes fill with tears,” a woman with the Twitter handle Laura K posted with three heart emojis.

“You two deserve everything and then some!” tweeted a woman with the handle roadamerika.

“It doesn’t get much better,” Pat Helton posted.

Fans also offered advice.

“Hang on tight dude,” Randy Prier posted. “It goes by in the blink of an eye.”