“…Did All Things Right” – Dale Earnhardt Jr. On What Spoiled His Fairytale Return in “Fun Race, Fast Car”

The sleepy coastal town of Florence, South Carolina, has been holding the South Carolina 400 for a few years now. But it had probably never seen the level of excitement prior to the race, as it saw this time around. And there was just one man to credit for that – Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had been meaning to go back to the race he spent so many nights at in the 90s. His return to the race, however, couldn’t be as romantic and poetic as fans would have wished for. 

It all first started when contact with Matt Cox saw him penalized and sent to the back of the field. Dale Jr. didn’t let up just yet. He made his way back up to the front before another contact with Landon Pembleton saw the star penalized again. This time, however, there wasn’t enough time for him to make it back to the front, as the incident had taken with just 5 laps remaining.

He finished the race in 9th place. Speaking after the race to Racing America’s Matt Weaver, he said, “Fun race, fast car, saved my tires. Did all those things right. Had plenty of race car to win, just didn’t have my head on straight in those last 20 laps. I don’t know, I was just… kind of got to seeing, you know, what the possibilities were and how we’re going to be able to run second.”

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It was a significant gesture from Dale Jr. Grassroots racing needs support in order to stay alive and relevant. And if that support doesn’t come from NASCAR legends, where will it come from?

Dale Earnhardt Jr quells concerns regarding Florence track

In the run-up to Dale Jr’s return to Florence, there was a lot of concern going around among regulars of the track about the grip available to drivers. 

Racing America reported a lot of drivers criticizing the track for the lack of grip. Brandon Pierce said, “This place, even from the Icebreaker (in February) has lost a lot of grip. With so many race cars, and so many divisions, I do feel like they can lay down some rubber and get the race track back.”

Kaden Honeycutt, another regular driver on the track, said “It’s way different than this race last year. I feel like it’s lost even more grip, which is wild to say because it hasn’t had any grip in five years anyway… but I don’t have a doubt that it’s going to be fun.”

But Dale Jr seemed quite content with what the track had to offer, as he said “It was really cool pulling in and driving down the dirt road but seeing what Zacharias and his whole group has done to improve it, and it’s really in better shape now than when I was racing here back in the 90s. They’ve made some gains.”

“Overall, this track is just fun. It’s slick, wore out and perfect. I’ve wanted to come back here for a long time.”

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A seal of approval from Dale Jr. is definitely quite valuable. But simultaneously, the drivers racing regularly on the track are the real stakeholders and their inputs also need consideration.