Dale Jr. returned to the Xfinity Series for his annual one-off race on Friday, September 20th, 2024. Earnhardt rallied the No. 88 NASCAR Chevy Camaro SS to a seventh-place finish after battling with technical issues for the first half of the race, and he said that he had a great time doing it.
Earnhardt had to bring his No. 88 NASCAR Chevy Camaro down Pit Road several times to address issues with his radio. He struggled to hear his spotter and crew chief in certain corners, and even swapped out his helmet in an attempt to remedy the issues, but it was to no avail. Dale Jr. even commented that he lost his glasses at one point, but it didn’t hurt him too badly as he battled back to race against the frontrunners by the end.
“I was worried ’cause it was headed the wrong direction there quickly,” Earnhardt said in a postrace interview, explaining that the radio issues may be related to similar radio problems he’s been having with his Late Model race cars.
He added, “You do your best, right… balance of the car was really good… I’m thrilled, be out here and be competitive. Man, I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to be competitive. I can come out here for another 20 years, but eventually, these young kids, they get to be so good.”
However, Dale Jr. added that he likely won’t race in 2025, although he hasn’t written out competition completely.
Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, won the race. Custer edged out Justin Allgaier, driver of the No. 7 NASCAR Chevy, for the regular season title, after Allgaier suffered crash damage after contacting a competitor. Allgaier’s night went downhill from there, wrecking a second time and dragging a saw out of his pit stall after his crew made repairs.
“I don’t really have any words for tonight,” said Allgaier, who finished 30th. “It started with getting the damage from the wreck in front of us. There was nothing we could do… I’m really bummed about tonight. We’ll go back and talk about it. We had the best car tonight.”
The 12 drivers who will compete in the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs are as follows:
- Cole Custer, No. 00 Ford Mustang Dark Horse
- Justin Allgaier, No. 7 Chevy Camaro SS
- Austin Hill, No. 21 Chevy Camaro SS
- Chandler Smith, No. 81 Toyota TRD Supra
- Shane Van Gisbergen, No. 97 Chevy Camaro SS
- Jesse Love, No. 2 Chevy Camaro SS
- Sam Mayer, No. 1 Chevy Camaro SS
- Riley Herbst, No. 98 Ford Mustang Dark Horse
- Sheldon Creed, No. 18 Toyota TRD Supra
- AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Chevy Camaro SS
- Sammy Smith, No. 8 Chevy Camaro SS
- Parker Kligerman, No. 48 Chevy Camaro SS
Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 00 | Cole Custer | HighPoint.com Ford | 300 | 104 | Ford Mustang |
2 | 14 | 18 | Sheldon Creed | Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota | 300 | 28 | Toyota TRD Supra |
3 | 1 | 81 | Chandler Smith | Mobil 1 Toyota | 300 | 29 | Toyota TRD Supra |
4 | 10 | 2 | Jesse Love # | Whelen Chevrolet | 300 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro |
5 | 16 | 20 | Ryan Truex | Toyota Genuine Parts Toyota | 300 | 0 | Toyota TRD Supra |
6 | 8 | 9 | Brandon Jones | Menards/Pelonis Chevrolet | 300 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
7 | 13 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Hellmann's Chevrolet | 300 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro |
8 | 12 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Sci Aps Ford | 300 | 5 | Ford Mustang |
9 | 20 | 1 | Sam Mayer | Carolina Carports Chevrolet | 300 | 55 | Chevrolet Camaro |
10 | 5 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Barger Precast Chevrolet | 300 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
11 | 3 | 5 | Anthony Alfredo | Dumpkin Spice Dude Wipes Chevrolet | 300 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
12 | 7 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | One Stop/All South Electric Chevrolet | 300 | 17 | Chevrolet Camaro |
13 | 15 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Monster Energy Ford | 300 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
14 | 17 | 21 | Austin Hill | Bennett Transportation Chevrolet | 300 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
15 | 21 | 8 | Sammy Smith | Pilot Flying J Chevrolet | 300 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
16 | 11 | 48 | Parker Kligerman | Big Machine Spiked Coolers Chevrolet | 300 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
17 | 29 | 44 | Brennan Poole | Cliff Bowman Chevrolet | 299 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
18 | 34 | 97 | Shane Van Gisbergen # | WeatherTech Chevrolet | 299 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
19 | 19 | 19 | Joe Graf Jr. | CoverSeal Toyota | 299 | 0 | Toyota TRD Supra |
20 | 22 | 92 | Josh Bilicki | Rita's Ice Chevrolet | 299 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
21 | 32 | 11 | Josh Williams | Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet | 299 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
22 | 33 | 29 | Blaine Perkins | Caliber Steel Ford | 299 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
23 | 36 | 28 | Kyle Sieg | ReliableRVParts.Shop Ford | 299 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
24 | 26 | 43 | Ryan Ellis | Sweetwater Construction Corp Chevrolet | 299 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
25 | 25 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Fly Alliance/State Chevrolet | 299 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
26 | 9 | 91 | Kyle Weatherman | Crav'n Flavor Chevrolet | 298 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
27 | 35 | 15 | Logan Bearden | Mullis Construction Group Ford | 298 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
28 | 30 | 35 | Carson Ware | Key Heating and Cooling Chevrolet | 295 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
29 | 38 | 07 | Greg Van Alst | CB Fabricating Chevrolet | 292 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
30 | 4 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | BRANDT Chevrolet | 290 | 60 | Chevrolet Camaro |
31 | 31 | 42 | Leland Honeyman # | Ohio Logistics Chevrolet | 290 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
32 | 18 | 14 | Chad Finchum | Elite Petroleum Ford | 280 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
33 | 23 | 45 | Stefan Parsons(i) | TruShine Car Wash Chevrolet | 276 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
34 | 24 | 38 | Matt DiBenedetto | ReMA Ford | 275 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
35 | 6 | 26 | Jeffrey Earnhardt(i) | K9 Grass by ForeverLawn Toyota | 205 | 0 | Toyota TRD Supra |
36 | 37 | 53 | Garrett Smithley | Ford | 113 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
37 | 27 | 31 | Parker Retzlaff | The Visual Pak Companies Chevrolet | 51 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
38 | 28 | 32 | Austin Green | 3Dimensional.com Chevrolet | 50 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
Comment
Good to see dale out on the track