[autotag]Dale Earnhardt Jr.[/autotag] competed in his first of two NASCAR Xfinity Series races during the 2023 season at Bristol Motor Speedway and the actual competitiveness was more representative of the results. Earnhardt led 47 laps and only finished in 30th place due to a fire that erupted in his car. It was a disappointing end to a fun night for the driver of the No. 88 car.
The next Xfinity Series race for Earnhardt will be on October 21 at Homestead-Miami Speedway but what about after the 2023 season? The JR Motorsports co-owner spoke to the media about the idea of professionally racing forward. There will certainly be some happy individuals after hearing what he had to say.
“I could see myself running that (Late Model Stock) car long into my 50s if I wanted to because I wouldn’t care as much about how competitive I am,” Earnhardt said. “But here, this is the second highest level of NASCAR and I only want to race here if I think I can do it well and wouldn’t do it unless I felt like I belonged there.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. had to get out of his car due to a fire. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/dMmKNYF0aS
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 16, 2023
“I’ll run as long as I can. I like running one here and one there but certainly not until I’m 60 years old. I still feel young. I overachieved tonight in my eyes in terms of how I ran. I guess I gained some confidence to try to do one here and one there for a couple more years.”
It is a good thing that Earnhardt wants to continue racing after his full-time driving career ended in 2017. Everyone wins when the NASCAR Hall-of-Fame member decides to strap in behind the wheel of a stock car. Hopefully, this continues to be the case and everybody gets to see Earnhardt race in select events for several more years.
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