Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes the lead in Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway

After his qualifying effort, no one expected this. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has taken the lead at Bristol Motor Speedway. The two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion is back for a part-time one-off race. He’s flexing his pedigree at 48-years-old, too.

Showing that he can hang with the young guys, Dale Jr. charged from starting P15 to claim a top-10 spot in the first stage. Then, he went on to start P4 in Stage 2 after a great pit stop. Soon enough, he was reeling in the leaders, Cole Custer, and his own driver Justin Allgaier with JR Motorsports.

In his Hellmann’s No. 88 Chevy, Dale Earnhardt Jr. undercut the pit strategy and came out to start Stage 3 in the lead. A big wreck to end Stage 2 led to Junior taking the lead. Unfortunately, it was three of his cars, Josh Berry, Sam Mayer, and Brandon Jones.

That ol’ No. 88 looks good out front. pic.twitter.com/Bv3gbOKnrw

— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) September 16, 2023

Dale Jr.’s last top-5 in the Xfinity Series came back in 2020 at Homestead during the COVID season. Since then, he has failed to make the top-10 in his last two starts in the series. He was P14 at Richmond two years ago and P11 at Martinsville a season ago.

By taking the lead in this race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has injected a whole lot of emotions and feelings into the NASCAR fanbase as a whole. Let’s just hope that he can manage to close it out and bring home the checkered flag. Seeing him win in 2023 would be an all-time great moment.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. competing with the young guns

No matter where he finishes, the fact that Dale Earnhardt Jr. led laps in the Xfinity Series at 48 years of age is impressive. That 88 Chevy was ready to go as soon as it hit the track. That could mean we are in store for a special night.

The level of competition in the Xfinity Series is serious. These drivers are capable of competing against the best in the world week in and week out. While a lot of the drivers are young and coming up in the series, that doesn’t change how difficult it is to win.

No matter how you cut it, these are some of the best drivers in stock car racing. Dale Earnhardt Jr. hopped into this race, in the middle of the playoffs, and made it look almost easy.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a real chance to win tonight. He just has to close the race out and bring it home.