Dale Earnhardt Jr. explains nerves going into Food City 300 at Bristol

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is an experienced and veteran NASCAR driver. Although he’s retired, he has plenty of races under his belt. So, you wouldn’t think he’d be all that nervous going into Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol.

That wasn’t the case, though. Turns out, Earnhardt experienced more nerves heading into the weekend’s Xfinity Series race than just about any other time as a driver. He explained why during an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

“More nervous than my very first qualifying attempt as a rookie at Charlotte. I’ve never had to experience going to a race and not being locked in. Everywhere I’ve been, all my life, I knew I was gonna race that day,” Earnhardt said.

“So, coming here, and, I know people are going to think I’m silly for it, but coming here and not having that locked in feeling, man, it’s not fun.”

😬 "I've never had to experience going to a race and not being locked in."@DaleJr was more worried than ever coming into last night's @NASCAR_Xfinity race at Bristol.

🗣️ "I could not deal with that."@JRMotorsports | @ItsBristolBaby pic.twitter.com/AO6mGfuEAa

— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) September 16, 2023

Earnhardt’s run at Bristol was a bit of a rollercoaster. The veteran driver actually took the lead in the early stage of the Food City 300 and appeared to be in store for a solid finish on Friday night.

However, smoke filled the inside of his car with just 30 laps remaining, ending his night a little early. He ended in 30th with a DNF.

Earnhardt’s fire suit actually caught fire as a result of the issues inside the car late Friday night. He talked about the situation following the Xfinity Series race.

“We got a hole in my pants,” Earnhardt Jr. joked, showing off the damage. “Somehow the shift control caught on fire. Saw some smoke in the car. I smelt it, and I said, ‘I hope that’s not me,’ but that last lap, I saw a big fire ball down in the tunnel, in the car. I felt it, obviously. My uniform was burning up. I was like, I can’t keep going. I’ve got to stop. Usually when you stop, the fires get bigger. So I pulled over by the pit stall, and some of those guys are pretty alert, and they helped me out.

“I hate it. We were going to finish in the top ten, maybe top five. Had a shot at winning it, if the car was going to run good at the end. But trying not to mess nobody’s night up at the same time, it was hard. But I had fun.”

It was an unfortunate end to what was a really solid night for Earnhardt and his crew.