Dale Earnhardt Jr. clinches top 5 finish in second NASCAR Xfinity start of the year

Dale Earnhardt Jr. capped off his second and final NASCAR Xfinity start this season with a top-five finish in the Contender Boats 300 at Homestead Miami Speedway on Saturday, October 21.

Dale Jr. was denied a top-five finish at Bristol Motor Speedway earlier in the playoffs when a fire broke out inside his car. Returning for his final start this season at Homestead, the 49-year-old made up for his retirement at Bristol with a late charge in the race.

The #88 Chevy driver admitted he was lost in qualifying as his lap time put him 23rd on the starting grid. On Saturday, he slowly progressed through the field but misguided his team with a wrong setup change. He recovered from the misstep and ran in the top 10 for most of the final stage, before securing a fifth-place finish.

"Heck yeah. I was wanting a top-10," Dale Earnhardt Jr. was quoted as saying by Toby Christie.com. "The car was not doing what I wanted it to do, but we worked on it. I sent us the wrong way in the first Stage, at the first break. Once we got that going, and the guys figured out what we needed to do with the car, the car got better, and we ran good enough to run fifth."

Dale Jr in the Contender Boats 300

The 49-year-old looked exhausted at the end of the 300-mile race and admitted he wasn't physically at his best. Dale Earnhardt Jr said the Bristol night race was easier than the Saturday afternoon race run in the Miami heat.

The two-time Busch Series champion said that his #88 Chevy had the pace for a better finish, adding that Kyle Larson could have won the race in his machinery.

"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."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. confirmed his return to racing in 2024, but will only make one start next season.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. accepts blame for wrecking Josh Berry

The NASCAR Hall of Famer had an eventful afternoon at the 1.5-mile oval at Homestead-Miami Speedway as he was involved in a collision with teammate and friend Josh Berry.

Both the JR Motorsports drivers were on to a top 10 finish in the race. In a late-race restart with 30 laps to go, Dale Earnhardt Jr. shoved Berry into the outside wall, ending the latter's race.

The bossman took the blame for the incident, as he misinterpreted the words of his spotter and corrected his car unaware that the #8 Chevy 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."

Josh Berry was relegated to a 32nd place finish, while Dale Earnhardt Jr earned a top-five result.