NASCAR: Dale Earnhardt Jr. news extends a 47-year streak
By Asher Fair
Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced his return to the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the 2022 season, confirming a start at Martinsville Speedway.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. plans to continue competing in one NASCAR Xfinity Series per year, something he has done ever since stepping away from Cup Series competition in 2017, and he plans to do so next year at Martinsville Speedway in April.
Earnhardt is set to pilot a fifth car for JR Motorsports, the team he co-owns, in the race there on Friday, April 8, 2022.
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Earnhardt has never competed in an Xfinity Series race at the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) oval in Ridgeway, Virginia, the track which is set to host the round of 8 finales for the Truck Series, Xfinity Series and Cup Series this coming weekend. He did win the Cup Series playoff race there in October 2014.
The 15-time Cup Series Most Popular Driver Award winner made this announcement during latest episode of the Dale Jr. Download from his Dirty Mo Media production group, and it came after he had the opportunity to drive the Cup Series’ Next Gen car at Bowman Gray Stadium.
In 2018, he competed at Richmond Raceway, and in 2019, he competed at Darlington Raceway. In 2020, he competed at Homestead-Miami Speedway before making a return to Richmond Raceway this past September. He finished these four races in fourth, fifth, fifth and 14th place, respectively.
As a result of his announcement, the 47-year-old Kannapolis, North Carolina native is set to guarantee that the Earnhardt name will be competing in NASCAR on some level for the 48th straight year going all the way back to 1975.
After Ralph Earnhardt, who made his Cup Series debut in 1956, competed for the final time in 1964, the Earnhardt name was absent until the debut of Dale, Ralph’s son, in 1975.
Since then, the name Earnhardt hasn’t left.
Dale Earnhardt competed in the Cup Series every year from 1975 until he was killed in a last-lap crash in the 2001 Daytona 500. He also competed in Xfinity Series (Busch Series) races from 1982 to 1994.
Dale Jr. himself made his NASCAR debut in 1996 (Xfinity Series) before making his Cup Series debut in 1999, and he has competed in the sport on some level every year since.
So the 2022 season is set to be his 27th consecutive season of competition alone.
As for other Earnhardts to compete during this current 47-year stretch, Jeffrey, Dale Jr.’s nephew, is currently on a 13-year run of his own, having competed in the sport on some level every year since 2009. Bobby Dale, Jeffrey’s brother, ran a few races in the Xfinity Series from 2017 to 2019. Neither one of them has confirmed plans for 2022 yet.
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Dale Jr. has 24 victories in 143 career Xfinity Series starts, with his most recent win coming at Richmond Raceway in April 2014.