NASCAR: Where else will Dale Earnhardt Jr. compete in 2023?
By Asher Fair
Dale Jr.’s NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Bristol Motor Speedway had long been announced, but he is set to compete in multiple races for the first time since 2017.
Before the 2023 season, JR Motorsports and Unilever announced that they had extended their partnership, with the latter returning to sponsor the former’s NASCAR Xfinity Series team for a 15th consecutive season.
It was confirmed that Unilever would sponsor Justin Allgaier’s No. 7 Chevrolet in six races on the 33-race schedule and that they would also sponsor Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 Chevrolet in one race.
Dale Jr. has competed in one Xfinity Series race per season, with sponsorship from Unilever’s Hellmann’s brand, since retiring from full-time Cup Series competition after the 2017 season.
He competed at Richmond Raceway in 2018 and 2021, Darlington Raceway in 2019, Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2020, and Martinsville Speedway in 2022.
In 2023, Dale Jr. is set to compete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday, September 15.
The 48-year-old Kannapolis, North Carolina native hasn’t competed in an Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway since August 2017, when he finished in 13th place. He won the race there back in August 2004, and he secured his lone Cup Series victory at the track on the same weekend.
But despite this announcement, Earnhardt’s schedule for the upcoming season was not totally set.
With JR Motorsports and longtime sponsor Bass Pro Shops renewing and expanding their partnership for the 2023 season as well, Bass Pro Shops announced in early November that they too would be sponsoring Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet in one race this year.
Where else will he compete?
Earnhardt’s No. 88 entry isn’t a full-time entry, and the only other driver announced to drive it at any point in 2023 is Miguel Paludo, who is strictly a road/street course driver. So technically every oval was on the table for the 15-time Most Popular Driver.
Now it has been announced that he is set to return to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the playoff race on Saturday, October 21.
See you in October, Dale!
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 6, 2023
Here’s @DaleJr’s ride for the @NASCAR_Xfinity Series race at @HomesteadMiami. pic.twitter.com/mRroSBx6B1
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Dale Jr. hasn’t competed in two races in the same Xfinity Series season since 2017, his final full season as a full-time Cup Series driver, when he competed at Bristol Motor Speedway and Richmond Raceway.