Freddie Kraft Mentions How Dale Earnhardt Jr Unintentionally Stole All the Limelight from “Poor” Driver at North Wilkesboro

NASCAR fans went gaga over their favorite driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr at the Window World 125 CARS Tour event. The semi-retired stock car racing driver finished third at the Wilkesboro Raceway.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame conferred driver drove a green #3 Sun Drop Chevrolet, which looked like the model he used in the 1990s. The recently revived North Wilkesboro Speedway marked Earnhardt Jr’s first late stock car race since the year 1997. Apart from that, this was the first time he drove at the North Wilkesboro Speedway since 1995.

Although JR Motorsports’ Carson Kvapil won the race, the loud cheer of the crowd for Earnhardt Jr declared who won all the hearts. During the race, Junior’s Chevrolet sustained some damage due to a wreck. Caught between Jared Fryar and Mini Tyrell, Earnhardt Jr’s Chevrolet took a hit at the right rear quarter panel.

However, even after losing time while getting his car fixed, Dale Jr. managed to put in his A-game during the last 37 laps of the race. Being the fastest car on the racetrack, Earnhardt Jr rose to the third position while the excited Wilkesboro crowd cheered him. 

Joking about how Dale Earnhardt Jr stole Kvapil’s thunder, Bubba Wallace’s spotter, Freddie Kraft said in a DBC podcast; “Poor Carson Kvapil, wins the biggest race of his life, probably, and no one has any idea about (Laughs) ‘cause they only talk about Dale.”

He further continued; “The poor kid went over there and did a really cool Polish Victory Lap. Went to turn two, turned around and everyone is like “Ayyy!! Congratulations” and Dale just turns around, does the same exact thing and again I thought the bleachers were coming down, and the noise erupted. (Laughs) At least he got a lot of cheers when he wants.”

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Well, Kraft is not wrong. The Wilkesboro crowd was already sold on Earnhardt Jr. Owing to the work he undertook to revive the raceway, fans couldn’t get enough of Earnhardt Jr. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr and the revival of the Wilkesboro Raceway

The North Wilkesboro Raceway stopped being a NASCAR stop in around 1996. Since then, a lot of efforts to revive the raceway were undertaken, but nothing panned out. However, when Dale Earnhardt Jr scanned the track for the iRacing Series, the interest of team owners was piqued.

Marcus Smith of Speedway Motors reopened the track for competition and Earnhardt Jr agreed to get back on track for the late model stock car race.

Reacting to Dale Earnhardt Jr’s amazing initiative and the unbelievable catch-up played by him at the race, a lot of NASCAR fans left their comments under a Twitter post shared by NASCAR on NBC. 

The news of Earnhardt coming back to the track attracted a huge crowd to Wilkesboro and Earnhardt said in a press release; “It’s a special place. I never thought I’d get a chance to race around here again. To put this program together with Sun Drop, who sponsored my late model in ‘93, I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

“They were with my dad for years and one of my first sponsors. Seeing the Sun Drop Chevy at Wilkesboro again will bring back some great memories for me.”

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The revival of the speedway is still underway. It is expected that Wilkesboro will have its new asphalt installed by 2023 and the track will again host NASCAR races.