The 2025 NASCAR season was the first since 1995 in which Dale Earnhardt Jr. did not make at least one national series start. Even after his retirement from Cup Series competition following the 2017 season, he had returned for at least one Xfinity Series (O'Reilly Auto Parts Series) race each year, up until 2024.
On paper, the real question is whether or not Dale Jr. has any plans to get back in an O'Reilly Series car; quite frankly, the active streak of 51 years of an Earnhardt competing in NASCAR on some level could be at risk if he doesn't, after Jeffrey was responsible for extending it with a handful of starts a year ago. Jeffrey doesn't have any national series starts lined up for 2026.
A Cup Series return, specifically for a superspeedway race, has always been seen as out of the question for the 51-year-old Kannapolis, North Carolina native, especially when you look at the health reasons that led him to retire from the sport in the first place. None of his Xfinity Series starts since his Cup retirement have even come on superspeedways.
Dale Jr. discusses Daytona 500 return rumor
Yet Earnhardt recently revealed on his podcast, Dirty Mo Media's Dale Jr. Download, that his wife Amy told him that he should return for one more Daytona 500 start, which he admitted caught him by surprise.
Of course, when Earnhardt announced in April 2017 that he'd be retiring at the end of the season, fans immediately speculated that he made the decision he made because Amy wanted him to stop competing.
That rumor obviously never had any truth to it, and Earnhardt slammed the door on his Daytona 500 return by noting that the main reason he revealed Amy's recent remarks about the "Great American Race" was to give fans clear-cut evidence that his retirement was never her decision, calling the fan reaction "unnecessary blame".
I only wanted folks to know Amy wasn't to blame for my retirement back in the day. I felt she got some unnecessary blame back then. I won't be racing cup but she's not the reason.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) February 18, 2026
Earnhardt is coming off of his second ever Daytona 500 as a team co-owner, having entered the No. 40 JR Motorsports Chevrolet for Justin Allgaier for the second straight year.
After an impressive ninth place showing in the team's Cup Series debut a year ago, Allgaier crashed while leading this year's race after battling his way to the front from 40th on the 41-car grid.
JR Motorsports still compete full-time in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series with four cars, occasionally with a fifth.