HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be back in an Xfinity car next year, but likely for only one event, he said after finishing fifth in Saturday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
His first top five in the Xfinity Series since 2020, which came at this track, capped a race that saw him responsible for teammate Josh Berry’s incident and ended in victory lane as the winning team owner after Sam Mayer secured a spot in the championship race with his victory.
The 49-year-old Earnhardt said where he’ll race next year hasn’t been set, but he’s leaning toward Bristol after running there earlier this season.
“That went so well, and I love the night race and the atmosphere there, that’s probably leading the pack right now, but only one next year, not two,” Earnhardt said.
Earnhardt ran well at Bristol in September before mechanical issues left him with a 30th-place finish.
Earnhardt said Bristol was easier than Saturday’s race, run in temperatures in the 80s.
“The driver wasn’t at his best physically,” Earnhardt said. “I kind of got tired. Not doing this every week, my body’s just not conditioned, and I certainly don’t work out. (The car) might have been able to run second, third or fourth. Heck, if (Kyle) Larson was driving, it probably would have won the race, but I’ll take a fifth place, 49 years old, only do this once or twice a year, hardly no practice.
“Golly, I was lost in qualifying. I was worried all morning about how we were going to race. I sent them down the wrong path on the first adjustment at the end of stage one. I got us a little behind there. They got to making better adjustments to help the car where we could drive up.
“We had good speed. Run these things every week might win a race or two in this series. It’s a lot of work. I really admire the drivers and teams that compete every week. Just come and do it once takes a lot.”
Earnhardt qualified 23rd. He steadily moved through the field, finishing 12th at the end of stage one and 16th at the end of stage two. He spent most of the final 90 laps in the top 10.
“I don’t know what the car is capable of doing, but it was a bit of a handful for me,” Earnhardt said. “I wanted to run the wall and make the wall work, but I was having a hard time finding the speed there. I could work the bottom in (Turns) 1 and 2 really nice, depending on the traffic.
“I had to move around a lot, never really got in a place where I was like, ‘Oh, this is my comfortable space.’ I usually love running the wall, but I could just maintain there, I couldn’t really make good lap time up there.”
Earnhardt took the blame for contact with Berry that sent Berry into the wall and out of the race. On a restart on Lap 171 of the 200-lap race, Earnhardt drifted up into Berry, squeezing his friend against the wall.
“I cleaned him out,” Earnhardt said of Berry. “I didn’t know he got there. I got loose, but I thought I was clear all the way up. So when I got loose, I was like, I got plenty of room to catch this, chase the car up.
“My spotter Joey (Meier) … is a great spotter. I misinterpreted the information he was giving me. My fault. He was telling me I was in the middle, three-wide and (Berry) was on the outside.
“I was hearing something different. I thought (Berry) was coming through the middle. When I got a little loose, I was like I’ll just come up and leave him all that room. I didn’t know he was out there. We hit really hard. I thought it flattened my tires. I know it killed his car.
“I’m sure he’s mad, disappointed for sure, he ought to be. We’re great friends. It was a mistake. I really try not to affect anybody’s race out there, trying to drive and give everybody a little extra room.”
Even with the challenges, Earnhardt was looking ahead to racing again next year. When asked about racing again at Homestead, Earnhardt said: “It’s so tempting. It’s so fun.
“I’ll go about six months and forget how hard it was and be like, ‘Yeah, let’s do that again.’”
Olivia Carter revs up excitement in the world of NASCAR. As a dedicated motorsports enthusiast, she covers race results, driver profiles, and the latest developments in the NASCAR world, keeping fans on the edge of their seats.
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