"I don't even have to lift": Dale Earnhardt Jr. elaborates on how he managed to 'ruin' Josh Berry's NASCAR Xfinity race at Homestead

JR Motorsports owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. had an eventful outing in the NASCAR Xfinity Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway last Sunday. He brought home a top-five finish in the 300-mile race while wrecking one of his own cars in the process.

With 30 laps left in the Contender Boats 300, both Dale Jr and #8 JRM Chevy driver Josh Berry were on to a top-10 finish. On a restart, Earnhardt Jr., in the #88 Chevy, briefly lost control of his car and shoved Berry into the outside barrier.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. accepted blame for the unfortunate incident, which relegated Josh Berry to a 32nd place classification. The #88 Chevy driver explained on his podcast Dale Jr. Download that he misinterpreted the words of his spotter Joey Meier, and believed the high line was empty.

"When I got loose, I'm like 'Well I got plenty of room to the wall, I don't even have to lift, I'm going to just straighten this thing up, Jump up a lane, and go'," Earnhardt said.

"As soon as I correct it to the right, I drove into Josh hard, really hard. Knocked the left rear tire off his car and ruined his day," he added.

Dale Earnhardt Jr's long-time ally TJ Majors was spotting for Josh Berry, hence Dale Jr was teamed up with Joey Meier. The two-time Xfinity champion wasn't used to Joey's lingo, which led to miscommunication between the two.

"Joey is spotting for me and he's just got a different lingo than what I've been used to. I've been listening to TJ for how many years right? Joey's lingo is different, it's not wrong... and so he's hollering 'Three wide, middle eight car outside'," Earnhardt said.

"...In my mind what I'm thinking is happening is that the #8 car is coming through the middle," he added.

The crash didn't have any major implications as Josh Berry was already knocked out of the playoffs after the first round. Except for this incident, Dale Earnhardt Jr. kept out of trouble for the race.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. reckons Kyle Larson could've won in his #88 Chevy

The NASCAR Hall of Famer admitted that the 300-mile race at Homestead was much more physically demanding than his earlier start in the Bristol night race.

The 49-year-old also wasn't sure if he'd extracted the best result out of his car as he reckoned a higher finish was possible.

“The driver wasn’t at his best physically,” Earnhardt said to NBC. “I kind of got tired. Not doing this every week, my body’s just not conditioned, and I certainly don’t work out. (The car) might have been able to run second, third or fourth.”

He reckoned Kyle Larson could have won the race with his #88 Chevy.

“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,” Earnhardt said.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be returning for a single start next season.