NASCAR: Dale Jr. to continue role in historic Earnhardt streak
By Asher Fair
A Dale Earnhardt Jr. return to the NASCAR Xfinity Series this year is slated to play a role in the Earnhardt name being in NASCAR for 47 straight years.
Since retiring from full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition at the end of the 2017 season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has still competed in one NASCAR race per year in the Xfinity Series driving for JR Motorsports, the team he co-owns.
He competed at Richmond Raceway behind the wheel of the #88 Chevrolet in 2018 and finished in fourth place before competing at Darlington Raceway behind the wheel of the #8 Chevrolet in 2019 and finishing in sixth before initial race winner Denny Hamlin was disqualified, promoting him to fifth.
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Last June, he competed at Homestead-Miami Speedway and finished in fifth place behind the wheel of the #8 Chevrolet. After this race, he floated the possibility of it being his 142nd and final Xfinity Series start and his 775th and final NASCAR start.
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However, it was confirmed in October that the 46-year-old Kannapolis, North Carolina is set to return for another race in the 2021 season.
The location of that race was not confirmed for quite some time after that, but the 15-time Most Popular Driver Award winner announced earlier this week that he is set to compete at Richmond Raceway in September. As a result, he is set to play a role in extending a family streak that was started all the way back in 1975.
In each of the last 46 seasons before 2021, there was at least one Earnhardt competing in NASCAR on some level.
While the 45-year streak of Cup Series competition for an Earnhardt ended last season, this particular NASCAR streak has been extended to 47 years.
Jeffrey Earnhardt, Dale Jr.’s nephew, has already competed in the season’s first eight Xfinity Series races for JD Motorsports to officially extend the streak, but Dale Jr. is still set to play a role when he gets behind the wheel on Saturday, September 11.
This streak began in 1975, which was nine years after Ralph Earnhardt retired from competition. The first Earnhardt to ever compete in the Cup Series made his debut in 1956 and competed in his final race in 1964 before failing to qualify for the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1966 in his final attempt.
Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jr.’s father, made his Cup Series debut in 1975 and competed every year until he was killed as a result of a last-lap crash in the 2001 Daytona 500. By that point, Dale Jr. had competed in the Xfinity Series from 1996 to 1999 before making his Cup Series debut in 2000.
Dale Jr. competed full-time at NASCAR’s top level from 2000 to 2017 before scaling back to one Xfinity Series race per year in 2018.
During Dale Jr.’s Cup Series career, Jeffrey also made his debuts in the Truck Series, the Xfinity Series and the Cup Series.
He made his Xfinity Series debut in 2009, his Truck Series debut in 2010 and his Cup Series debut in 2015. Jeffrey has now competed in at least one of those three series on some level in each of the last 13 seasons.
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Bobby Dale Earnhardt, Jeffrey’s older brother, made his NASCAR debut in 2017 and competed in select Xfinity Series races from 2017 to 2019.