NASCAR: Dale Earnhardt Jr. confirms where he’ll drive in 2020
By Asher Fair
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has confirmed speculation that he will make his start in the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season at Homestead-Miami Speedway in March.
For the first time since the 1994 season, the NASCAR Xfinity Series season finale is set to be contested at a track other than Homestead-Miami Speedway next year.
The race at the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Homestead-Miami Speedway oval in Homestead, Florida is scheduled to take place in March as opposed to its usual November date in 2020.
Set to compete in this race is Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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Earnhardt, a two-time Xfinity Series champion, retired from full-time Cup Series competition following the 2017 season, his 18th season as a full-time driver in the series.
The 15-time Most Popular Driver Award winner, however, has made it a habit of returning to Xfinity Series competition for one race per year driving for the team he co-owns, JR Motorsports.
Last year, he drove the #88 Chevrolet in the September playoff race at Richmond Raceway. This year, he drove the #8 Chevrolet in the August regular season race at Darlington Raceway.
The 45-year-old Kannapolis, North Carolina native confirmed that Homestead-Miami Speedway is the track at which he will compete in the 2020 season on Twitter the day after the driver lineup for the #8 Chevrolet was confirmed for next year.
Just got into @HomesteadMiami and it’s driving me CRAZY that I have to wait till next March to turn some laps here. I sure miss it. Such a fun track. Gonna be a great weekend for our sport. @NASCARonNBC @NASCAR
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) November 15, 2019
This confirms previous speculation based on an interview that Earnhardt did with FanSided’s Mark Carman in September.
“I’m going to run one race a year for as long as I can. I enjoy doing that one event,” Earnhardt stated. “I kind of like to move around, try a different track. Next year, I hope I get to go to Homestead. Got to work that out with our sponsors and the race team and everybody, but that’d be the race I’d like to go run. Maybe Martinsville the year after that and just keep on doing that.”
Daniel Hemric is set to drive the #8 Chevrolet in 21 of the 33-race season’s other 32 races while Jeb Burton is set to drive it in the other 11.
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The 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the Ford EcoBoost 300, is scheduled to take place on Saturday, March 21, and it is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET. This weekend’s Championship 4 2019 season finale at the track, also the Ford EcoBoost 300, is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET tomorrow afternoon.