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HAMPTON, GA – MARCH 03: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images)
![](https://image-cdn.essentiallysports.com/wp-content/uploads/20201026191513/GettyImages-647531812.jpg?width=600)
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HAMPTON, GA – MARCH 03: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images)
Ever since Dale Earnhardt Jr left full-time racing, he has spent most of his time as a motorsports analyst. However, once a year, he gets down to driving one race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with his own team, JR Motorsports, sporting the No.8 car.
It feels like much of it is down to the former Hendrick Motorsports driver sharing a passion for racing in the sport. Naturally, it seems like the 45-year-old is by no means done with competitive driving any time soon.
Speaking in a brief interview, Earnhardt Jr talks about which location it could be this time around in the Xfinity 2021 season. Safe to say, Martinsville does not really sound like one of them.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr rules out Martinsville race as a potential option
Earnhardt Jr stated, “I do know where I’m going to be driving in the Xfinity Series, but we haven’t announced it yet. So I’m not really allowed to tell you. But it’s somewhere that I’ve raced before in the last couple of years.”
Based on just those words, the possible options that crop up are the races at Richmond, Homestead, and Darlington. The former, in particular, is slated to take place on September 11, and could possibly tie in well with Earnhardt Jr’s broadcasting commitments too.
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DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 23: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 National Guard Chevrolet, celebrates with the checkered flag after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 23, 2014 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
“And they cannot activate in time to be able to run the first Martinsville race. So that knocks that one off the list because Martinsville is where I wanted to go.”
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“I do not want to run that last Martinsville race because that’s in the middle of the playoffs and I don’t want to be any part of that storyline. So I’m going to completely avoid any of those races in the playoffs next year,” concluded Earnhardt on the subject.
The announcement will happen soon, says Earnhardt Jr
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The North Carolina native said, “But we’ll have an announcement soon on where that race track is. I’m sure some of you guys can kind of guess where it might be. But I’m really looking forward to it because I love being behind the wheel.”
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DOVER, DE – SEPTEMBER 30: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Apache Warrior 400 presented by Lucas Oil at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
Earnhardt Jr has won quite a few races in the past at Richmond in both the Cup and Xfinity Series. His last outing in 2019 rewarded him with a fifth-place finish, and if that is indeed the location next year, Earnhardt Jr might not be too disheartened with that.
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