Dale Earnhardt Jr. reiterated this week he is not planning to make a NASCAR Xfinity Series start in 2025, but is not ruling out ever racing again.
“I don’t have any plans,” Earnhardt said on his Dale Jr. Download podcast. “I like it that way. If I want to run one, I will. If I don’t, I won’t. Right now, there is nothing on the schedule for next year.”
Earnhardt finished seventh in Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. There were some who treated it as a potential final NASCAR start for Earnhardt after he went into the weekend saying that that he will put complete focus on his new broadcast role with Amazon and TNT Sports in 2025.
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Amazon will broadcast five NASCAR Cup Series beginning with the Coca-Cola 600. TNT Sports will carry the following five races starting at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Earnhardt will be on the broadcast team for both partners, doing on-air analysis and commentary.
“But knowing me, I’m probably going to go, ‘Man, I missed running,’” Earnhardt said. “When ’25 is over with — actually when I’m done broadcasting and NBC finishes out the year — I’ll probably be sitting there going, ‘I should have run that race. I should have run one of these. Darn it.’
“Then I’ll probably go to Kelley [Earnhardt Miller] and L.W. [Miller] and go, hey, let’s find one for 2026 and I’ll get nervous all over again.”
Since retiring from full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition after the 2017 season, Earnhardt has competed in the Xfinity Series in one-off starts with the team he co-owns, JR Motorsports. He made two starts last year. The tracks have varied based on Earnhardt’s interest and Hellmann’s sponsorship.
Should he get back behind the wheel in 2026, Earnhardt said he would look at a place like Kansas Speedway to compete, noting that it looks fun as a viewer and that he enjoys tracks where a driver can run against the wall.
Earnhardt has made 147 starts in the Xfinity Series and has 24 career wins.