Back in the Saddle: Dale Jr. Returns to the Track on Friday Night

Ron Lemasters | JR Motorsports | 9/18/2018

Dale Jr. Hellmann's News Richmond XFINITY Series

Dale Jr.'s return to racing is just days away and the 4-time Richmond Xfinity Series winner is eager to get back to one of his best tracks.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Sept. 18, 2018) – On Friday night, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be in the starting lineup at Richmond Raceway. After retiring from competition in the NASCAR Cup Series at the end of 2017, it will be his first time back since the season finale last November, and it will be the first time he’s taken the green flag in a NASCAR Xfinity Series event in a little more than a year.

The anticipation factor is at peak levels, both for the driver and for JR Nation.

“I am looking forward to it,” Earnhardt Jr. said of his return to the cockpit at one of his favorite tracks. “It’s going to be a fun day, and I’m trying to keep it from being a long day. I have some responsibilities and I’m going to keep those at a minimum. I want to drive the car and have fun.”

He’s had a lot of fun on Strawberry Hill, and loves the track, often saying there should be more tracks like it in the sport. “Richmond is a short track, and I love short-track racing,” he said. “Don’t get to do a ton of that, so it’s going to be a fun weekend.”

On Monday, the 43-year-old Earnhardt Jr. was in the shop attending to a few details with crew chief Mike Bumgarner. “The car is ready,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I’ve been in and out of the car, getting the headrest right...I’m ready to go.”

Bumgarner is a known quantity for Earnhardt Jr., both in his daily job as director of race operations at JR Motorsports and as a crew chief. Bumgarner has been on the box for Earnhardt Jr. during NXS competition twice, in 2014, earning a fifth-place at Texas Motor Speedway and a third at Michigan International Speedway.

Bumgarner filled in for Kevin Meendering during the season-ending championship event at Homestead-Miami Speedway and oversaw Sadler’s race to third place in the event and second in the final standings in 2016.

Earlier this season, Bumgarner was called to action again, this time for Tyler Reddick and the No. 9 team at Michigan, while crew chief Dave Elenz was at home awaiting the birth of his child. Reddick finished a solid seventh that day.

In all, Bumgarner has 63 starts as a crew chief dating back to 2007 with Kyle Busch, then at Hendrick Motorsports. He’s earned four victories, 22 top-five and 36 top-10 finishes along with three pole positions.

Another familiar face, with a voice to match, will join Earnhardt Jr.’s team for the race. Spotter TJ Majors will call the action for his long-time driver on Friday night.

Richmond is a great place for Earnhardt Jr. to shake off the rust of a year away, too. His record on the .75-mile oval is, in a word, stellar.

In seven career NXS starts, Earnhardt Jr. has won four times, logged five top-five and six top-10 finishes, with the only blemish on that record coming in the spring of 1999 when a rear axle broke on his ACDelco Chevrolet and relegated him to a 32nd-place finish.

His first victory there came in 1998, when he led 236 of the 250 laps on the way to Victory Lane. A year later, in the fall race, he led the final eight laps for another victory, and in the fall of 2002, he and Gossamer, the Looney Tunes character who rode shotgun, led 190 of the 250 laps for a third triumph.

After a long time away from the speedway in NXS competition—nearly 14 years—Earnhardt Jr. showed that he hadn’t lost his touch. Starting third in the No. 88 Hellmann’s/Blessings in a Backpack Chevrolet Camaro, Earnhardt Jr. led 128 of the 149 laps and earned not just his fourth NXS victory at Richmond, but his first in a JR Motorsports machine.

That day - April 23, 2016 - was huge for more than the fact that he won the race. Earlier in the month, Dale Jr. had introduced, via Twitter, his favorite sandwich to the world, a creation that consisted of Hellmann’s Mayonnaise and banana on white bread as part of a promotion with his longtime partner. For a week or two, everywhere you looked, somebody was talking about Dale Jr. and the sandwich, and it turned into a huge promotion.

In the NASCAR Cup Series, Earnhardt Jr. had solid success at Richmond as well. He won his second career Cup race in 2000 at Richmond—four races after he won his first, at Texas. All three of his Cup victories at Richmond came in the spring race, in 2000, 2004 and 2006, and he had one get away—with the help of Kyle Busch—in 2008, also in the spring.