NASCAR: 5 possible Cup drivers for JR Motorsports

Possible JR Motorsports Cup drivers: No. 5 – Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Even though he retired from full-time NASCAR racing post-2017, Dale Earnhardt Jr. still has the competitive itch to get behind the wheel of a race car. He has run one Xfinity Series race in a JR Motorsports car each year since he retired, with his most recent start coming at Martinsville Speedway in April 2022.

The NASCAR Hall of Famer also recently announced that he would be entering a late model event at North Wilkesboro Speedway in August after helping save the track from becoming a lost speedway.

Shortly after he finished in 11th place at Martinsville Speedway back in April, Dale Jr. stated that he’d “try again next year”, implying that his mind is already focused on what race he might compete in next year.

Earnhardt has already been behind the wheel of the Next Gen car for test sessions, once at Bowman-Gray Stadium and once at Daytona International Speedway in a car prepared by Hendrick Motorsports, so it isn’t unrealistic to think that he could get back behind the wheel of a Cup car again.

He has said that driving in the Cup Series again was out of the cards, but a return to the series wouldn’t be the first time he has gone on to do something he said would never happen.