“The coolest NASCAR driver of all time”: Fans react as Dale Earnhardt Jr. celebrates Bristol finish with a keg full of beers

Dale Earnhardt Jr. launched a strong comeback at Bristol Motor Speedway following last year's fiery mishap. He will not return behind the #88 JR Motorsports Chevy's wheel next year. Therefore, the top-10 finish in Saturday's race called for a gala celebration; the star of the show was an entire keg of beer.

The fans on X (formerly Twitter), reacted to Dale Jr.'s way of celebrating his 96th top-10 finish in his 147th Xfinity Series start. Since retiring from the Cup Series in 2017, Earnhardt Jr. has competed in at least one race yearly.

Reflecting on Junior's post-race celebration, Zach Sturniolo, content manager at NASCAR, tweeted:

"Ninety minutes after the checkered flag,@DaleJr’s post-race celebration rolls on with a fresh delivery of beer."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. lifted the barrel full of icy cold beer with the help of two other people and placed it inside his pit stall. After thanking the people who had delivered the beer to the No. 88 crew, he turned over and exclaimed:

"Food City. Alright!"

Several fans reacted to the same with one saying:

"Dale jr. is the coolest nascar driver of all time."

Xfinity Racing commented:

"Legend"

Here are a few other reactions to Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s celebration after the race:

"That is classic Junior - man loves his beer 🍻" a fan wrote.

"Hopefully everyone enjoyed and drank responsibly," another aid.

"Man would that be fun way to spend a Friday night!" one commented.

Earnhardt will now focus on his job as a TNT Sports and Amazon Prime broadcaster. However, he did not rule out the possibility of a NASCAR return in 2026.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. shed light on which drivers might struggle in the playoffs

In a recent episode of his Dale Jr. Download podcast, the veteran racer named a few drivers who he thinks might have trouble making the Round of 12. According to him, Harrison Burton, Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Briscoe might get chucked off the list of contenders for the Round of 12 openers at Kansas Speedway on September 29.

"Harrison Burton will have a hard time going in and making up 20 points," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. "I honestly don’t think [Martin] Truex gets it done. Minus 14, that’s a bit of a tall order. I believe Chase Briscoe will struggle to not get kicked out by Denny Hamlin. Can Denny go in there and make the six points up on Chase Briscoe? Yes. And then I think it’s a bit of a toss-up between Ty Gibbs and Brad Keselowski."

"I don’t think Brad beats Denny, but Brad could possibly outpoint Ty Gibbs. Ty’s gonna have to struggle. It’ll be important Ty does not do well in Stage 1 and 2 to give Brad that shot," he added.

In the spring race at Bristol earlier this year, Hamlin, Truex Jr., and Keselowski were the top finishers. However, as of now, all three are below the elimination line.