NASCAR Xfinity Series: Dale Earnhardt Jr. still plans to drive at Darlington
By Asher Fair
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is still planning to compete in next Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway as he recovers from injuries suffered during a plane crash.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his family recently experienced a frightening situation when their plane crashed as it attempted to land in Tennessee ahead of Friday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Everybody on board the plane thankfully survived and nobody suffered any major injuries.
However, Earnhardt, who serves as an analyst on NASCAR on NBC, was unable to get to the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee to be a part of the broadcast team for that race like he had originally intended.
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He is reportedly still dealing with a bruised lower back, and as a result, there have been questions as to whether or not he will be ready to compete in next Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway.
The 44-year-old Kannapolis, North Carolina native has been slated to compete in this 147-lap race, the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200, around the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) Darlington Raceway oval in Darlington, South Carolina since early February.
But despite these questions, he has made clear that he still plans on driving in this race, although he does have a Plan B.
Yes. I plan on driving still. My lower back is bruised up real bad. Lots of swelling and I just need that to go down and the pain to chill out. I been treating the area every day solely to get well to race. I have a plan B but hope not to use it. https://t.co/O1J7jZU4kR
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) August 22, 2019
This Plan B is simply somebody else driving the #8 Chevrolet that he is set to drive for JR Motorsports, the team that he co-owns in the series. There is no word on whether or not he would compete in another race later in the year if he ends up missing this one, although hopefully it won’t come to that.
Someone else drives the car
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) August 22, 2019
Earnhardt’s appearance in this race is set to be his second one-off appearance in the Xfinity Series since he retired from full-time Cup Series competition at the end of the 2017 season. He competed in the September race at Richmond Raceway last year and finished in fourth place. He has no immediate plans to give up competing in the Xfinity Series on this limited basis.
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NBC is set to broadcast the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 live from Darlington Raceway beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, August 31, so be sure to tune in to catch the 24th of 33 races on the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule and the antepenultimate race of the 26-race regular season.