Dale Earnhardt Jr. admits his final NASCAR start could come in 2024

Dale Earnhardt Jr. admits that his final NASCAR Xfinity Series start could come in 2024? What did Earnhardt say about the possibility?

[autotag]Dale Earnhardt Jr.[/autotag] retired from the NASCAR Cup Series after the 2017 season, but it doesn’t mean his racing career is over. Earnhardt still runs in his late models and typically drives in one to two NASCAR Xfinity Series races yearly. In 2024, Earnhardt will run the Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on September 20.

Ahead of the Xfinity Series event and summer months, Earnhardt spoke to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass about various topics, including his racing future in NASCAR and other series. The 2024 season could be Earnhardt’s last in the Xfinity Series.

“I want to run my late model for a really long time,” Earnhardt said. “I imagine when I get to around 60, I’ll be probably considering that that’s probably too old to be out there battling with some of these younger guys. So I’ve got about a 10-year runway to do everything I want to do with my late model. The [NASCAR Xfinity Series] car? Every year, I say that — personally, but I don’t really share this publicly — but every year, I pretty much feel like it could be my last. I’m going into this race at Bristol this year knowing that it might be the last one I run.”

“There’s nothing that really makes that decision. It’s just last year was a lot of fun, led some laps. But it is a big commitment…And so it’s not just show up and race and, “Oh man, that was great. We’ll do it again next year.” There’s a lot of work that goes into it months ahead of time. But as long as we’re running good like we did — we ran so much better than I thought we would at Bristol last year — and as long as that’s happening, I think I’ll always want to keep coming back. When you go out there and you know the car is good and you just aren’t able to produce the result, then it’s probably time to let somebody else try it.”

Earnhardt is taking his NASCAR driving future year-by-year, but the 2024 season could be his last. Hopefully, the JR Motorsports co-owner keeps making one-off starts in the Xfinity Series moving forward, but no one would blame him for stepping away. NASCAR is better with Earnhardt racing, and Bristol will be especially fun because of his presence.

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