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Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s wild return to NASCAR ends with top-10 finish and 2 a.m. beers on pit road
For the first time in nearly a year, one of the most popular drivers in the history of motorsports was back in the driver’s seat for a NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. jumped behind the wheel of the No. 88 Hellman’s Mayonnaise Chevrolet Camaro as part of a deal with the sponsor. Essentially, Earnhardt runs this race in the Hellman’s car and then the company sponsors other drivers on Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports team throughout the season. Junior retired from racing full-time after the 2017 Cup Series season, but the 49-year-old still likes to jump behind the wheel in a Xfinity race or two each year in addition to some on-and-off racing in the late model CARS Tour.
But impressively, despite a chaotic and wild night, Earnhardt finished seventh in his return to one of the highest tiers of NASCAR.
And he did that battling a flurry of problems, errors, fumbles and issues at the Food City 300.
His radio went out. He replaced his helmet. He replaced his wiring harness. He lost his glasses. His radio fell on the floor. His water bottle fell on the floor. He couldn’t read the numbers on the dash. The radio volume turned up way too loud. He ran part of the race without a spotter.
On and on and on.
Just about everything that could go wrong for Dale Jr. did. And he still finished in the top-10 in his first Xfinity race since last October.
Recap of Dale Jr.'s night so far:
-- Major radio issues at the start, about loses his mind. Eventually pits several times for new helmet (didn't work), new wiring harness (not sure worked) and has a push-to-talk radio attached to his chest. Drops to last place several times.
--…— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) September 21, 2024
After losing his glasses early in the race, Earnhardt just did the rest of the race without them.
Longevity.@DaleJr has now made at least one NASCAR national series start in every season since 1996.
He currently holds the longest active streak of consecutive seasons with at least one national series start.
Career totals
778 starts
50 wins
220 top fives
356 top 10s
He was… pic.twitter.com/XwEDBAZa2j— NASCAR Classics (@NASCARClassics) September 21, 2024
In the meantime, fans will have to catch Dale Jr. in the broadcast booth, on his podcast or on the CARS Tour.
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This article originally appeared on For The Win: Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s wild return to NASCAR ends with top-10 finish and 2 a.m. beers on pit road
