Earnhardt Gears Up for Bristol Return, Lone Xfinity Series Start of 2024

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Junior’s last ride, at least for now.

Since retiring from full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition at the end of the 2017 season, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has made it a habit of running at least one NASCAR Xfinity race each year since and once again, he’s back behind the wheel of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway for Friday night’s running of the Food City 300.

A year after contending for the win before a small fire in the cockpit of his car derailed his night in this race last season, Earnhardt has brought the same car back to Thunder Valley this weekend as he looks to find the same pace he showed last time and contend for the win.

Earnhardt has always had an affinity for the high-banked half-mile bullring, where he grew up watching his father and other greats of the sport compete as well as finding success of his own at the track.

“I have been looking forward to running this weekend. Bristol’s just such a special track, not replicated anywhere. There’s nothing like it,” Earnhardt said. “You know, when I was very young, as a son of a driver that ran all the races, you knew you were gonna get to your fair share of races throughout the year as a kid. And it was like a playground.

“It was like an amusement park. I wanted to come to the races same way you, you know, as a child might want to go to Six Flags or Bush Gardens, whatever. This was my playground and my amusement park, and I think Bristol was at the top of my list as a really young kid.”

With no sponsor obligations for him to fulfill in 2025, Earnhardt explained that Friday night’s race is the last for him in the Xfinity Series for the foreseeable future and he is just trying to take everything in as he climbs behind the wheel of what should be a fast Chevrolet for him to pilot.

“Had a great car last year. Really, really great car. And, no surprise, the 88’s been fast every time they’ve taken it to the racetrack, no matter who’s driving it this year. So, I feel pretty, pretty good about the car being good.

“Again, it’s the same car we ran last year. They took it home, tore it apart, put it back together, and nobody’s drove it since then. So, I’m hoping it’ll drive as good as it did last year…

“Should be a fun experience. And hopefully at the end of the day we’ve ran all the laps. If I just run all the laps, I’m happy. I don’t really look at results as much anymore. Happy about a great result for sure.

“You know, when you only get to go to the ice cream store once a year, you want to eat the whole thing, right? And so, I wanna run all the laps and see the checkered flag and I’ll be happy about that.”

He added that despite not having any races in the Xfinity Series on the calendar for 2025, should the opportunity come along for him to get behind the wheel again at some point, as long as it’s beneficial to his team as a whole, he wouldn’t be opposed to doing so.

“I’ll be foolish to say I’m never gonna run again because I don’t know well enough to stay away from it,” Earnhardt said. “I’ll probably miss it next year and be absolutely willing to sign up anything that might be beneficial to JR Motorsports. I have to remind fans and people that follow us, that I run this race and have ran this race over the last several years because of the big benefit that it is to JR Motorsports. It’s a package deal where Hellman’s and Unilever has put their logos on Justin’s car and it’s helped fill out that car.

“I don’t have a requirement to run next year, so I may just not do it. And I will miss it terribly and regret that I didn’t race and probably in 2026 find me somewhere that I can go compete in the Xfinity Series again.

“But right now I don’t have any plans. But that’s kind of the way I like it. If a partner comes together with a package that helps one of the other cars fill out multiple races that we have some inventory, I’m absolutely on board to doing a race for that reason alone. So, I’m not against it at all. Just right now we don’t have any responsibility. Hellman’s is not, uh, requiring me to run that race next year to continue their partnership.

Earnhardt continued, explaining that he has fallen back in love with short track racing in his late model stock car in the CARS Tour this season and he will continue that next year and into the future, but given how many years he has taken part in NASCAR National Series races, don’t count him out to be back in one of his Xfinity cars at some point.

“I’m just gonna see how badly I miss it,” Earnhardt said. “I figure I only got a handful of these years left to be relatively somewhat competitive, but I’m gonna be fine.

“I found what I love, to be honest with you, driving that late model stock car. I mean, the reason why I race, the things that I’ll enjoy tonight are there as well. And I can go to some grassroots racetrack and have a good time and enjoy what I love about driving cars just the same. So, I’m gonna continue to do that next year as well.”