Dale Earnhardt Jr. savors challenging Bristol Xfinity race: 'I loved every lap'

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. opened his Friday noting the evening’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway may be his final foray in a NASCAR national series race.

The course of the 300-lap event threw him about everything imaginable: ongoing radio issues, a helmet change, a swap of wiring harnesses and glasses gone missing. And yet, as he stood on pit road on the frontstretch of Bristol after the checkered flag, nothing in the world could wipe the smile off the face of the 49-year-old Earnhardt.

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Despite myriad issues, Earnhardt wheeled the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet all the way to a seventh-place finish in his first start since Homestead-Miami Speedway in October 2023.

“We had a radio harness or something went out under the pace laps and didn’t have a radio for about 50 laps,” Earnhardt explained. “Swapped out the earplugs, still didn’t work. Swapped out the helmet, still didn’t work. So probably ran about 120 laps without really much communication with TJ. And finally, they stuck a radio with a short harness in it and a button I could clip to my chest, and I could hear them and talk back under caution, but it worked out, and we didn’t lose any lap or anything.

“So just as frustrating as that is, it was important not to give up and lose a lap or anything and try to salvage what we could because we had a top-10, top-five car. And I’m glad we were able to get a good result with those issues.”

Named the sport’s most popular driver for 15 consecutive years during his successful Cup career, Earnhardt was welcomed back by not just the fans but the drivers racing against him, too. Dale Jr. wasn’t even halfway out of his car when Shane van Gisbergen swung by to greet him and share a handshake and laugh. Ryan Truex wandered over to do the same after a spirited on-track battle.

For much of the final 93-lap run to the checkered flag, Earnhardt was in the midst of a four-car battle for the fifth position, hounding Truex’s No. 20 Toyota while trying to fend off his own JRM teammates Brandon Jones and Sam Mayer. And every time Earnhardt seemed to have a run on the No. 20 car, Truex, the younger brother of Cup champion Martin Truex Jr., inched forward and negated Earnhardt’s advances.

“I needed him to slow down a little bit,” Earnhardt said with a wry smile. “I don’t know. He was loose, and I was tight, and I almost could get to his right rear in Turn 4, but I was worried about jumping the cushion, hitting the fence. But I was getting tight. We dropped the track bar and didn’t really need to on that last run. Fun racing him. I was trying to pass him because I knew Martin was watching, and I was like, ‘I bet Martin’s pulling for him.’ So I wanted to beat him so I could rub it into (Martin) Truex. We’re going hunting in a couple weeks.”

Truex, laughingly, was having none of it and upon reaching Earnhardt after the race, told him straight up: “I wasn’t just gonna give it to you.”

“He made me work for it, and I made him work for it,” Truex said. “I knew when he was behind me, he was probably just like, ‘Damn it, this 20 car will not get out of my way,’ and I was thinking to myself, ‘I’m not just going to give it to you. I know everybody loves you, and I love you, too,’ but it was fun to race him hard, and obviously, he races with respect.”

That Earnhardt was contending for a top-five finish regardless of all his issues Friday night in part emphasized why the 24-time Cup winner, 26-time Xfinity winner and two-time Xfinity Series champion was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2021.

“It’s so freaking hard to do this part-time,” Truex said. “So for him to come here — and he hasn’t raced all year. At least I race a couple times here. He races once a year. He races Late Models and stuff, but it shows the caliber of driver he is when he can jump off the couch and battle for a top five right away. So that was fun.”

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Early Friday afternoon, Earnhardt intimated that this could be the last race he runs in the Xfinity Series. After making at least one series start per season since 2001, he has no plans to compete in 2025, with no sponsor obligations to pilot a car and incoming broadcast duties as he joins both Prime Video and TNT Sports for its debut NASCAR coverage. If Friday truly marks the end of Earnhardt’s NASCAR racing career, he walks away satisfied with his performance.

“I mean, if I don’t ever run again, I’m happy at 50 years old to jump in once and run top 10,” Earnhardt said. “I know there was some guys named (Harry) Gant and (Bobby) Allison that were winning races in their 50s. So I know it’s damn doable. It’s not anything too crazy. But not doing it every week, man, you certainly come in here feeling like you’re handicapped, and you’ve gotta drink from the fire hose trying to figure out what’s going on and getting up to speed.”

But he left the door open for more fun down the road — and Dale Jr., set to turn 50 years old on Oct. 10, made sure to relish his experience Friday through the chaos.

“I loved every lap. It was great,” Earnhardt said. “I mean, I got everything I wanted out of this, and I’ll miss it next year. I’m certain I’ll probably sign up for somewhere else. Trying not to already start thinking about, where would I run? Where do I want to run? But I definitely do want to take next year off, focus on my broadcasting and get my boots on and get back to work there, make sure I’m doing a good job for that. That’s my priority, that and my family.”