{"id":222814,"date":"2025-09-13T05:56:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T05:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/222814\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T05:56:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T05:56:12","slug":"dale-earnhardt-jr-confesses-regret-over-skipping-nascars-biggest-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/222814\/","title":{"rendered":"Dale Earnhardt Jr. Confesses Regret Over Skipping NASCAR\u2019s Biggest Night"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">Ahead of NASCAR\u2019s Round of 16 finale, some drivers dominate the headlines. Kyle Larson is on top, having led 873 of 1000 laps in the last two races in Bristol. Denny Hamlin is next, as the four-time Bristol winner executed a thrilling tire management race victory in April 2024. But beyond these active legends, another veteran is swirling in fans\u2019 heads at present. That individual is none other than Dale Earnhardt Jr., who uttered the famous words, \u201cIt\u2019s Bristol, baby!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:16px;color:#3e3e3e\" class=\"new-heading_headline-text__HmpNk\">Watch What\u2019s Trending Now!<\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">The 26-time Cup Series race winner retired from full-time racing in 2017. Yet between 2018 and 2024, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has continued to make starts in the Xfinity Series, wheeling the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. However, he consciously stopped his streak after last year \u2013 but now feels a hint of regret ahead of this weekend.<\/p>\n<p data-article=\"true\">ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p><strong style=\"margin:0px;display:initial;font-weight:bold;font-family:var(--secondary-font)\">Dale Jr. yearns for the Thunder Valley<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">The 15-time Most Popular Driver has visited Bristol\u2019s Victory Lane only twice. Both wins came in 2004, when Dale Jr. won in both the Xfinity and Cup Series. Yet his attachment to the 0.533-mile short track runs deeper than his minimal stats. \u201cI do miss it,\u201d Dale Jr. recently admitted in a Dale Jr Download episode. He urged his fans to purchase tickets for the 2025 Bass Pro Shaps Night Race, even though he will be missing from the race. He said, \u201cI just love the vibe. You gotta go feel the vibe\u2026When they get going at night in the Cup race, it\u2019s a deal, man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">This weekend marks one year since Dale Jr. last ran at Bristol, and that outing was a memorable one. During the 300-lap Xfinity race in 2024, Dale Jr. encountered countless mishaps like radio issues, swapping his helmet, changing the wiring harnesses, and missing glasses. Yet <a class=\"es-hyperlink-new\" href=\"https:\/\/www.essentiallysports.com\/nascar-news-dale-earnhardt-jrs-xfinity-veteran-unravels-to-undo-the-mistakes-of-bristol-race-amidst-his-contract-extension\/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=website_internal&amp;utm_campaign=web_link_2\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">he powered through these problems<\/a> and brought the No. 88 to a 7th-place finish. That is why Dale Earnhardt Jr. admitted he might think twice about ceasing his Xfinity runs. He said, \u201cI\u2019ll probably regret not running one or two when it\u2019s all said and done. If you were to find me at 65 years old, right? I\u2019d say, 15 years from now? I will absolutely say to you, \u2018You know, I should have run a couple of more.\u2019 Because they are fun, and I am competitive. We got a reasonably good setup there, and I love the racetrack.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-article=\"true\">ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">While <a class=\"es-hyperlink-new\" href=\"https:\/\/www.essentiallysports.com\/tag\/dale-earnhardt-jr\/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=website_internal&amp;utm_campaign=web_link_2\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dale Jr.<\/a> brought up his future self, he also talked about his younger self. The veteran\u2019s first forays into Bristol happened as a child, when he used to watch his father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., compete. Dale Jr. reminisced about the bygone times, \u201cWhen I was a kid going to Bristol, the night race was my favorite weekend. I loved it. And I still do today, even though the track\u2019s changed and things are different. The Bristol that I loved in 1987 doesn\u2019t exist anymore.\u201d Nevertheless, he still enjoys going to the Last Great Colosseum and watching drivers compete. He continued, \u201cBut I still go there and I know that it\u2019s still Bristol.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">Evidently, Thunder Valley still lingers in Dale Jr.\u2019s mind. It lingers more due to a particular memory that the veteran keeps close to his heart.<\/p>\n<p><strong style=\"margin:0px;display:initial;font-weight:bold;font-family:var(--secondary-font)\">A heartbreaking yet iconic memory<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">Most people knew <a class=\"es-hyperlink-new\" href=\"https:\/\/www.essentiallysports.com\/tag\/dale-earnhardt\/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=website_internal&amp;utm_campaign=web_link_2\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dale Earnhardt<\/a> at his peak moments. The Intimidator is mainly known for his 7 Cup Series championships, 76 race trophies, and unbeatable skills on the racetrack. Yet there is less spotlight on his weaker moments. One such moment happened during a Bristol race in 1984, when Dale Jr. was only 10 years old. Dale Sr. was locked in a hot battle with Terry Labonte and was initially leading the race. However, as Dale Jr. recollected recently, a mishap axed his dad\u2019s chances. Earnhardt \u201cspins down the front straightaway and all four tires are flat and he\u2019s kind of stuck, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">Eventually, Dale Sr. could not recover from this incident, and his son was heartbroken. Dale Jr. continued the old story: \u201cTrying to get going, and he gets lapped, and ended up losing the race. Terry Labonte won, and he (the elder Earnhardt) is in a battle for the championship with Terry, neck and neck for the most part up until that point in the season\u2026And I remember, even at 10 years old, being aware enough that Dad spinning out of the lead and having four flat tires and losing a lap, all that was bad.\u201d Harry Gant wound up finishing second to Labonte for the championship that season, followed by Bill Elliott and Dale Sr. in fourth. Despite the sad ending, Dale Jr. counts this as his \u201cfavorite memory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-article=\"true\">ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\" class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">Evidently, Dale Jr. has a lot of reasons to come back to Bristol again. Although no such plans have been finalized yet, let\u2019s wait and see what the veteran decides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahead of NASCAR\u2019s Round of 16 finale, some drivers dominate the headlines. Kyle Larson is on top, having&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":222815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[87796,1444,2358,1641,1638,52914,15787,6128,2360,2951,2361,1406,2355,1647,2356,1618,1645,62,2344,90443,15786,67,132,68,1646,1640,1615],"class_list":{"0":"post-222814","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-87796","9":"tag-1444","10":"tag-500er","11":"tag-am","12":"tag-der","13":"tag-eigentumer","14":"tag-floridas","15":"tag-fur","16":"tag-internationales","17":"tag-mannschaft","18":"tag-motorradrennbahn","19":"tag-nascar","20":"tag-nascars","21":"tag-nur","22":"tag-pokal","23":"tag-quer","24":"tag-redaktionelle","25":"tag-sports","26":"tag-strand","27":"tag-talchen","28":"tag-ueben","29":"tag-united-states","30":"tag-unitedstates","31":"tag-us","32":"tag-verwendung","33":"tag-wahrend","34":"tag-x0x"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115195450794343829","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}