Dale Earnhardt Jr. will make a rare NASCAR driving appearance on Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30ET, USA Network) as he makes his return to the Xfinity Series for the first time since March 2022 at Martinsville Speedway.
Earnhardt, a NASCAR Hall of Famer, two-time Daytona 500 winner and one of the most prolific personalities in the history of the sport, is now a full-time media personality between his NASCAR on NBC and Dirty Mo Media podcasting empire.
The 15-time Cup Series most popular driver only races a handful of times a year these days, mostly in his Late Model Stock Car in the Carolinas but is scheduled to make two Xfinity Series appearances this season on Friday at Bristol and October 21 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
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Earnhardt is a two-time winner at Bristol, with both victories coming in 2004. One came in the Cup Series and the other came in the Xfinity Series. In his most recent Cup appearance at Thunder Valley, Earnhardt finished in 23rd with a 13th place finish in the Xfinity Series the night before.
The two-time series champion has made one start in each of the past five seasons, driving for the JR Motorsports team he co-owns -with sister Kelley Earnhardt-Miller with sponsorship from Unilever. He will race at Homestead with support from Bass Pro Shops where he most recently finished fifth in 2020.
Aside from Martinsville and Homestead, Earnhardt has competed at two other tracks since his retirement from full-time racing in 2017 and those starts came at Richmond Raceway (2018 and 2021) and Darlington Raceway (2019).
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“I feel pretty lucky to be getting back behind the wheel with my team, JR Motorsports,” Earnhardt said. “I’ve missed racing at Bristol. That was a big reason I chose to run this event this year in our Hellmann’s Chevrolet. The Xfinity Series regulars are a tough bunch, and every time I run with them I have a blast. Hoping for another great experience this weekend.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.