Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wants To ‘Finish The Job’ At Bristol, But What Are The Odds He’ll Win The NASCAR Xfinity Series Race?
Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s last race at Bristol Motor Speedway literally went up in flames, but he’s coming back with a vengeance.
Earnhardt led 37 laps was in contention to win the Xfinity Series Food City 300 in 2023 when an electrical short caused a fire in the cabin with 29 laps to go.
He was able to make it to the pits and get out without serious injury, but the leg of his fire suit was significantly burned.
“Last year was a blast,” Earnhardt said on the “Dale Jr. Download” show this week.
“Yes, I have thought about what would have happened had we not had the issue with it. I’ve run that over in my head a million times, and I have a vivid image of looking down at the floorboard and seeing that fire and thinking, ‘this is over.’
“I want to go back and finish the job. We have one race, and you know how tough it is, how easy it is to show up and not be on, to miss the mark or miss the setup. We don’t know, when we unload, if it’s going to be as good as it was last year. That was a winning car. That car should have won the race. That was as good as you could ask in terms of that. The chances of getting that good a car are not very good. We feel prepared and ready. It is the same Hellmann’s car we ran last year, too.”
This year’s Cheddar’s 300 is the only NASCAR race he’s driving in this year and it comes 20 years after he swept the weekend at Bristol in 2024, winning both the Xfinity Series and Cup Series races.
Earnhardt’s last Xfinity Series win was at Richmond in 2016, but he has only done one or two races a year since retiring as a full-time Cup Series driver in 2017.
If he needs any advice about getting around Bristol ahead of Friday night’s race, he doesn’t need to go far. Last year’s winner, Justin Allgaier, drives for his JR Motorsports team and Connor Zilisch, who is joining the team squad next year, won pole position for both the ARCA and Truck Series races on Thursday. Zilisch looked strong during the races, but unfortunately was wrecked out of both.
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According to BetMGM, Allgaier is the favorite to win with +210 odds, followed by Cole Custer at +400, Chandler Smith at +525 and some guy named Dale at +600.
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