Dale Earnhardt Jr. Reveals Exactly Why He Won’t Race In NASCAR In 2025
Dale Earnhardt Jr. only entered one NASCAR race this season, but it was a memorable one.
The JR Motorsports owner had trouble with his radio early in the Xfinity Series Cheddar’s 300 and had to pull into the pits for a new helmet.
That didn’t fix the problem, so he needed to stop again to have the wiring harness for the transmitter replaced.
A few laps later he realized he wasn’t wearing his glasses and thought he’d dropped them on the floor of his car, but it turns out they came off with the helmet he left with his crew, so he had to make do until the next planned pit stop. It was the second year in a row he had bad luck at the track. His car caught fire late in last year’s race, burning his fire suit.
The car he raced this year was the same one that Connor Zilisch drove to victory lane at Watkins Glen the previous weekend, and Earnhardt speculated that they may have gotten too much champaign into the wiring.
Even with all of the challenges he faced, Earnhardt managed to finish seventh and was happy with the result, which may be the last one for a while in the series.
Earnhardt said before the race that he’s not planning to enter any events as a driver next season, because his team’s sponsorship deal with Hellmann’s and Unilever doesn’t require it.
“I will miss it terribly, regret that I didn’t race and probably in 2026 find me somewhere that i can go and compete.”
After the race, which was won by Cole Custer, Earnhardt explained why he intentionally decided not to get himself a ride for any events next year.
“I gotta work on my broadcast and new partners and all that, so I want to be great,” Earnhardt said, referring to his move from NBC Sports to Prime Video and TNT Sports for the 2025 season. The two outlets will be broadcasting 10 races mid season and Earnhardt will be doing other projects with them.
“I feel like I really need to focus on that, that’s really the priority, so I want to do well in the booth and maybe I’ll get back in this thing. I’m sure I’ll miss it and probably end up signing up for something in ’26.”
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Earnhardt does plan to drive in some late model races on the Cars Tour that he co-owns, and it’s not impossible that he’ll still end up in a NASCAR car next year. He said he still loves racing and doesn’t plan to stop altogether anytime soon, but doesn’t know how much longer he’ll be able to keep running up front.
“I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to be competitive. I can come out here for another 20 years, but, you know, eventually these young kids they just get to be so good, so it’s fun to be able to run with them tonight.”
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