The Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway in September might be the last for Dale Earnhardt Jr. but it likely isn’t the end of his racing career by a long shot.
Since retiring from full-time Cup Series racing in 2017, Earnhardt has contested at least one Xfinity Series race each season in the years since and even ran two last year. He led laps at Bristol last season and looked like a threat to win before an electrical fire sidelined him, leading to his decision to come back in 2025.
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Earnhardt has also raced a Late Model Stock two to three times a year every year since 2021 as well, mostly at Florence Motor Speedway and North Wilkesboro. He’s going to make his Langley Speedway debut next month for the Hampton Heat 200 as well.
Earnhardt told Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports that he sees himself doing than for at least another decade.
“I want to run my late model for a really long time. I imagine when I get to around 60, I’ll be probably considering that that’s probably too old to be out there battling with some of these younger guys,” Earnhardt said in the interview. “So I’ve got about a 10-year runway to do everything I want to do with my Late Model. The Xfinity car? Every year, I say that — personally but I don’t really share this publicly — but every year, I pretty much feel like it could be my last.
“I’m going into this race at Bristol this year knowing that it might be the last one I run. There’s nothing that really makes that decision. It’s just last year was a lot of fun, led some laps. But it is a big commitment. I just logged in the calendar the sim that I’m going to be doing to try to prepare for that.”
Either way, there will still be a good number of chances to see the two-time Daytona 500 winner race over the next decade.
