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Dale Jr. has a "little itch to scratch" in racing return at Richmond

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will take a break from the NBC Sports broadcast booth next weekend at Richmond (Va.) Raceway to compete in the Xfinity Series race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Dale Earnhardt Jr., JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Barry Cantrell / NKP / Motorsport Images

Dale Earnhardt Jr
Dale Earnhardt Jr., JR Motorsports Chevrolet
Dale Earnhardt Jr., JR Motorsports Chevrolet race winner
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Earnhardt made it clear when he announced his retirement from full-time NASCAR competition at the end of last season that he had some commitments he would honor with his JR Motorsports organization in the Xfinity Series.

Earnhardt, 43, is set to return to on-track action in next weekend’s race at Richmond, which will be his first NASCAR race since last season’s Cup series finale at Homestead, Fla.

During an NBC IndyCar/NASCAR teleconference this week, Earnhardt was asked if he felt any apprehensive to returning to on-track competition.

“I’m prepared and have my bag ready to go, my helmet, my suit, everything in it, and I’ll be a busy, man, jostling between my responsibilities with NBC and covering practices and qualifications and so forth for the Cup event and then doing the practices and driving the car on the Xfinity side,” he said.

“It’ll be a busy weekend for me. Not something I’d want to be doing often, but there’s a little itch to scratch, and I’m looking forward to having this opportunity to race a little bit, have some fun.”

In fact, Earnhardt said he had just spent time this week sitting in the car and getting his seat mounted to his liking and the headrest mounted.

“The car looks great. The car is almost ready to go,” he said. “Doing those type of activities to prepare for the race gets you really excited about it, gets you looking forward to it.”

In 139 career starts in Xfinity, Earnhardt has 24 career victories, with his most recent coming in the 2016 season at Richmond – one of four series wins he owns at the track.


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