The NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol was an interesting affair for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Though he did not manage to win the race as many of his fans would have wanted, he did finish in a respectable 7th place. But his race did not go without enduring troubles as he faced issues with his in-car radio communications for a major part of the event.
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The #88 driver had to head down pit road several times losing out on track position to get a new helmet on, which did not seem to alleviate the persistent issues. Then he went in to get a new wiring harness whose functionality wasn’t confirmed either. Lastly, the team clipped a push-to-talk radio to his chest to solve the issue.
He even lost his glasses while trying to remove his helmet at one point of time. He believed that it fell on the floor of the car, but the team later found it stuck inside his helmet. So he had to pit again to get his glasses back.
Somewhere during the race his radio fell off his chest and the volume shot up to the maximum, with him having to ask his spotter to speak softly. He also gave Riley Herbst the bird, which he apologized for later on. The duo shared a beer after the race.
Dale Earnhardt Jr says he’s happy with tonight, despite everything that happened, if this is the end of his NASCAR driving story.
BUT.
He’s starting to think about a race to run in 2026 now. pic.twitter.com/OpOjvTfMNM
— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) September 21, 2024
While speaking with the members of the press following the race, Junior mentioned, “Radio harness or something went out under the pace lap… Didn’t have a radio for about 50 laps. Swapped out the earplugs still didn’t work, swapped out the helmet still didn’t work. So probably ran about a 100-120 laps without really much communication with TJ (Majors). Finally, they stuck a radio with a short harness in it. A button I could clip to my chest and I could hear them and talk under caution.”
He then went on to say how the #88 crew had a top 10 or a top 5 car and that he was glad that he was able to put forth a good result at the end of the day, without losing out on extra time when he had to pit to get the issues resolved.
Junior might return to Xfinity Series in 2026
Despite the frustrating issues, the JR Motorsports co-owner seemed to reconsider his stance regarding running in future NASCAR races. When questioned by the journalists about his plans and if he would consider running in 2026, he said, “I’ll miss the next year, I’m certain I’ll probably sign up somewhere else.”
“Trying not to already start thinking about where would I run, where do I wanna run. but I definitely do wanna take next year off, focus on my broadcast,” he added.
Junior will keep himself occupied throughout the 2025 season as he joins the broadcast team of Amazon and TNT, who will air 10 races each throughout the seasoon. Hence, any hope of him being back in the Xfinity Series will come in the 2026 season, which is quite a long time from now. However, if this does become Junior’s final race in the sport, he wouldn’t be too disappointed with the result.
