Dale Earnhardt Jr. claims NASCAR is now 'way down' on his life's priority list

Ahead of his recent run in the Bristol Xfinity race, it was speculated that it would be the last time Dale Earnhardt Jr. would race in NASCAR. The NASCAR Hall of Famer retired as a full-time driver in 2017. However, he has run one-off or yearly appearances in the second tier of the sport with JR Motorsports.

In his most recent and what was reportedly his last Xfinity race, Earnhardt Jr. finished inside the top 10. After the race, he refused to confirm or deny any future appearances behind the wheel in NASCAR.

Junior further shared his take on this subject during an episode of his podcast show. He also highlighted his wife Amy's involvement in his racing appearances, and what his priorities are.

"Amy and I sit down at the start of the year, and I'm like, let's—we put the schedule in front of us, and I go, "Amy, I want to run this many late model stock races, and here's a bunch of races that are interesting to me." And we'll look at what the family's got going on, what my work schedule is. I got—everything else is a priority. Racing, driving a race car, while I love it, is way down on the list. It is, um, there are so many other things now in my life that insist on being prioritized above that and must be," Earnhardt Jr. described.

It's worth mentioning that since he began racing one-offs from 2018 onwards, Dale Jr. has finished outside the top 20 on only one occasion in eight races. He has finished inside the top 5 four times while also having one top 10 finish.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. claims he can make another NASCAR appearance happen if he wants to

While directly addressing whether he'd make any more appearances as a driver in future NASCAR races, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said he wouldn't want to say he had run in his last race. Junior claimed that after Bristol, he doesn't have any plans to run another race.

And if the idea of running again seems appealing to him, Dale Jr. said he can just get in touch with the right people and make it happen again.

"I'll probably go to Kelly and LW and say, 'Hey, let's find one for 2026.' And I'll get nervous all over again," he claimed.

Earnhardt Jr. added that he's interested in running at Kansas considering it looks "pretty fun". The former Hendrick Motorsports driver mentioned his love for running the wall, in the case of Kansas, the fence.

It'll be interesting to see when Dale Earnhardt Jr. decides to take up another race in the Xfinity Series. While he has suggested that in 2025, he'd focus more on running in the CARS Tour, he has also hinted that his mind can always change in NASCAR's favor.