NASCAR: Dale Jr. announcement extends major streak

Dale Jr. announced his intent to return for another NASCAR Xfinity Series start next year, extending an Earnhardt family streak that goes back nearly five decades.

Prior to Friday night, none of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s 143 career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts had come at Martinsville Speedway.

Behind the wheel of the #88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, the team he co-owns, he changed that statistic with an 11th place finish at “The Paperclip”.

This start made the 2022 season the fifth consecutive season during which the 47-year-old Kannapolis, North Carolina native has made one start at NASCAR’s second highest level following his retirement from full-time Cup Series racing.

He finished in fourth place at Richmond Raceway in 2018 before finishing in fifth at Darlington Raceway in 2019, fifth at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2020, and 14th at Richmond Raceway in 2021.

Shortly after Friday night’s race, he announced his intent to return for a sixth one-off appearance next year.

“I’m gonna look forward to the next one,” Earnhardt stated in a video posted to his Instagram story. “We’ll try to go do another one next year. We just gotta figure out where we want to do that. Maybe Homestead again or something like that. … We’ll see y’all again. I can’t wait to do this next season.”

Should this return eventually be confirmed, as we would expect, it would make the 2023 season the 49th consecutive season to see an Earnhardt competing in NASCAR on some level.

This streak began back in 1975, when Dale Earnhardt Sr. made his Cup Series debut. He competed every year from then until 2001, when he was killed in a last-lap crash in the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. He also competed in the Xfinity Series, then called the Busch Series, from 1982 to 1994.

Dale Jr. made his NASCAR debut in 1996 in the Xfinity Series, and he made his Cup Series debut three years later in 1999. He has not gone a full season without competing in the sport on some level since then.

They aren’t the only two Earnhardts to compete since 1975, either. Jeffrey, Dale Jr.’s nephew, has competed in the sport on some level every year since 2009; he has already extended his personal streak to 14 seasons with four Xfinity Series starts this year. Additionally, Bobby Dale, Jeffrey’s brother, competed in select Xfinity Series races in 2017 and 2019.

And of course, Dale Sr. wasn’t the first Earnhardt to compete in the sport. Ralph, his father, made his Cup Series debut in 1956, and he competed in races during six different seasons, the final one being the 1964 campaign.