Race: Hooters 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway
Track Specs: 1.5-mile oval / 167 laps
Weather: Partly cloudy; 86 degrees
Race Winner: Harrison Burton
Dale Jr's Finish: 5th
Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 8 Hellmann’s Chevrolet, earned a fifth-place finish in his return to NASCAR Xfinity Series competition on Saturday afternoon at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The top-five result is the 70th of Earnhardt Jr.’s NXS career and his third-consecutive dating back to Richmond Raceway in September of 2018.
Stage One Finish: 7th
Earnhardt Jr. took the green flag for his first NXS start since Darlington in 2019 from the 12th position after the starting lineup was set via a blind draw earlier in the week. Once underway, the driver of the Hellmann’s Chevrolet quickly marched forward, racing into the top 10 on the opening lap and up to the seventh position by the time the competition caution was displayed on lap 20. Opting to stay out during this caution, Earnhardt. Jr again pressed onward, joining the top five for the first time on lap 26 before reporting to crew chief Taylor Moyer that the Hellmann’s Chevrolet had developed a tight-handling condition through the center of the corner. This handling condition ultimately shuffled Earnhardt Jr. back to the seventh position in the closing laps of the opening stage. Despite the handling woes, the stage-ending result earned the No. 8 team four valuable points.
Stage Two Finish: 4th
While under the stage-ending caution, Moyer called the two-time NXS Champion to pit road for four tires and a chassis adjustment in the hopes of improving the handling through the corner. A fast stop by the Hellmann’s crew moved Earnhardt Jr. into the top five and up to the fourth position for the beginning of Stage Two on lap 45. The Kannapolis, N.C. native continued to battle inside the top five throughout the second stage, fighting with JR Motorsports teammate Noah Gragson for third before settling into the fourth position by the time Stage Two came to a close on lap 80. With the stage result, Earnhardt Jr. earned the No. 8 team an additional seven stage points.
Final Stage:
Prior to the beginning of the third and final stage, Moyer again made the call for Earnhardt Jr. to come to pit road for four tires and another round of adjustments. The Hellmann’s crew again turned another quick pit stop, moving Earnhardt Jr. up three positions and into the race lead for the lap 87 restart. Earnhardt Jr. would hold on to the lead for four laps before sliding back to the fourth position after reporting that he was still fighting the tight-handling condition through the center of the corner.
Undeterred by the handling condition, Earnhardt Jr. again climbed the leaderboard, taking advantage of a long green-flag run to race back up to the second position. The driver of the Hellmann’s Chevrolet would maintain his track position until the time came to return to pit road for the lone round of green flag pit stops on lap 121. Earnhardt Jr. returned to the track following the stop just outside of the top 10, but quickly cycled up the leaderboard and into the second position as the final race leader came to pit road on lap 138. Earnhardt Jr. remained in second behind teammate Gragson until the final caution flag of the afternoon was displayed on lap 160.
Moyer decided to take this opportunity to bring the Hellmann’s Chevrolet back to pit road for their last set of fresh tires, sending Earnhardt Jr. back out for the ensuing restart in the third position. Lining up second on the inside line for the restart, Earnhardt Jr. battled three-wide for position inside the top five, fighting hard with teammate Michael Annett and Anthony Alfredo, before ultimately taking the checkered flag in the fifth position.
The result is Earnhardt Jr.’s 70th career top-five finish in 142 starts in the NXS.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver No. 8 Hellmann’s Chevrolet team
“That was a lot of fun. This is an elite form of motorsports and it’s not easy to get out there and compete with these guys. They’re all so good and race so hard, but it was a lot of fun. I hate we got that late yellow at the end of the race because it took our cars a couple corners to really fire off and go. We had some good speed with our Hellmann’s Chevrolet today.”