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Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Set To Race At Historic North Carolina Speedway

Author Phil Harris
Dale Earnhardt Jr. stands in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on October 23, 2015 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

He may have retired from NASCAR in 2017, but you can’t keep Junior away from the track. WBTV reports that Dale Earnhardt, Jr., will race on Wednesday night (8/31) at North Carolina’s historic North Wilkesboro Motor Speedway. He will compete in the Window World 125 CARS Tour event. The race will be Dale’s first at North Wilkesboro since 1995.

“I came to North Wilkesboro so many times as a kid,” Earnhardt said in a press release. “It’s a special place. I never thought I’d get a chance to race around here again. To put this program together with Sun Drop, who sponsored my late model in ‘93, I wouldn’t want it any other way. They were with my dad for years and one of my first sponsors. Seeing the Sun Drop Chevy at Wilkesboro again will bring back some great memories for me.”

Dale mentioned his father in the statement. The late Dale Earnhardt, Sr., won five NASCAR Cup Series races at North Wilkesboro Motor Speedway.

Since his 2017 retirement, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., has raced occasionally in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports, the team he co-owns with his sister. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2021.

Dale’s car for Wednesday night’s race will look very much like the one he drove in the early 1990s, including at North Wilkesboro in 1993, when he was only 19. The No. 3 Chevrolet (below) has a throwback bright green Sun Drop paint scheme.

According to the North Wilkesboro Speedway website, the Window World 125 will be the final race there before it’s transformed into a dirt track for racing in October. The current pavement will be removed, and cars will compete on the original dirt. Wednesday night’s event begins with a concert by Dirty Grass Soul at 5:45. Driver introductions will happen at 7:00 p.m. and the race starts at 7:30 p.m. You can find more information HERE.

These are the Most Wreck-Prone NASCAR Cup Drivers

Crashing ruins the promise of a race day for NASCAR betting fans as well as drivers. It is possible for multiple cars to slide sideways at some tracks, sending the unluckiest among them taking heavy damage and ending their events early. Bookies.com crunched the data and found out which NASCAR drivers wreck the most and which wreck the least.

See the rest of the current NASCAR Cup Series drivers ranked by the percentage of races they have finished in their careers here.

  • Which NASCAR Drivers Fail To Finish Most Often?

    Driver Career Starts Running At Finish (RAF) Crash Rate
    Cody Ware 66 44 33%
    Todd Gilliland 11 8 27%
    Harrison Burton 12 9 25%
    Michael McDowell 404 263 23%
    Austin Cindric 18 14 22%
    Justin Haley 47 38 20%
    B.J. McLeod 94 77 18%
    Corey Lajoie 175 145 17%
    William Byron 155 132 15%
    Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 339 292 14%
    Kyle Larson 270 233 14%
    Cole Custer 86 74 14%
    Bubba Wallace 159 139 13%
    Tyler Reddick 85 74 13%
    Erik Jones 194 169 13%
    Chase Briscoe 47 41 13%
    Ross Chastain 126 111 12%
    Ryan Blaney 245 215 12%
    Josh Bilicki 77 68 12%
    Christopher Bell 83 73 12%
    Aric Almirola 399 352 12%
    Martin Truex Jr. 596 531 11%
    Daniel Suarez 190 169 11%
    Kurt Busch 767 684 11%
    Kyle Busch 617 551 11%
    Alex Bowman 236 209 10%
    Chase Elliott 232 209 10%
    Chris Buescher 233 209 10%
    Austin Dillon 311 284 9%
    Joey Logano 482 442 8%
    Brad Keselowski 460 425 8%
    Denny Hamlin 589 542 8%
    Ty Dillon 177 163 8%
    Kevin Harvick 765 723 5%

  • Behind The NASCAR Crash Numbers

    You may be surprised by some of these numbers. First, it’s obvious that the Dillon boys are grandchildren of a race team owner because they know how to take care of equipment. Harvick, for example, has averaged fewer than two DNFs per season over a period of two decades. Good drivers don’t just compete but also avoid other drivers’ messes, and the prospect of a crash shouldn’t deter any bettor from backing them.

  • McDowell in the Fast-Lane

    McDowell is on the other end of this list. Firstly, he won the 2021 Daytona 500, so we know he can race at a high level in extremely tight traffic. The reason why McDowell’s crash rates are so high is that he raced for lower-end teams during the “start-and-park” era following the 2008 financial crash-when sponsors dried up, NASCAR race fields got sparse, and shoestring teams were able to collect a few grand by taking the checkered flag, coasting at the back for a few laps, and then reporting a breakdown.

Phil Harris is 50% of "Phil & Mel in the Afternoon" on K104.7. He has been with the station since 2013 and on the air in Charlotte since 2000. Before coming to the Queen City, Phil worked for radio stations in Pittsburgh, Austin, and Seattle. In addition to the weekly "Throwback Threesome" music video feature, Phil writes about things that matter to Charlotte sports fans and pet owners. He happens to be both.

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