Dale Earnhardt Jr. experiences nostalgia ahead of his return to Bristol Xfinity race

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has shared a post on his social media, looking back at the first time he raced at Bristol Motor Speedway. Dale Jr. will return to Bristol in the Xfinity Series on Saturday to compete in the final regular season race.

Dale Jr. will be piloting the #88 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports, a team he co-owns, in the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. As race-day draws nearer, Dale Jr. shared a post on X (formerly Twitter), looking back at his first trip to the track.

He captioned the post,

"My very first trip to @ItsBristolBaby race with Ed Whitaker. 1997"

Besides racing part-time, Earnhardt Jr. co-owns JR Motorsports Xfinity Series team. Moreover, he and NASCAR veteran Kevin Harvick recently took ownership of the zMAX CARS Tour Series, and continue to work towards its betterment.

Son of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Sr., Dale Jr. followed in his father's footsteps to become a professional stock car racing driver. The 49-year-old made his Xfinity Series debut in 1996 and became a full-time competitor soon after, securing consecutive championships in 1998 and 1999. He earned 26 wins in NASCAR's premier division, while his father won the Cup Series title seven times.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. on return to Bristol Motor Speedway after mechanical issue last year

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had led 47 laps and was comfortably positioned for a strong finish in last year's Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. In a dramatic turn of events, with 29 laps remaining, smoke began to fill in his cockpit, due to a mechanical failure, eventually leading to a fire. This unfortunate incident dropped him to a P30 finish.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently expressed his views on returning to Bristol, on his podcast Dale Jr. Download. He said he was looking forward to "finish the job." He said (via jrmracing.com):

"Last year was a blast. 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.”

The 2024 Food City 300 is scheduled for Friday, September 20 at 7:30 PM ET. Fans can tune in to PRN Live and the SiriusXM NASCAR channel to follow the #88 in action at Bristol.