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DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 13: (EDITOR’S NOTE: Image was processed using digital filters.) Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, looks on in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 13, 2016 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
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DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 13: (EDITOR’S NOTE: Image was processed using digital filters.) Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, looks on in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 13, 2016 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
North Wilkesboro is back, and we just had another race on the iconic track. Of course, Dale Earnhardt Jr. being a big part of the track’s restoration was also in the race. And things got quite emotional.
Dale Jr. made a pretty emotional admission about racing on the track.
"I almost wanted to cry. It was so emotional." Dale Earnhardt Jr. describes the feeling of racing again at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
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Junior said, “I almost wanted to cry. It was so emotional. I stall can’t believe this happened, man. This place was forgotten. Anyone on the planet was ready to argue, ‘They ain’t bringing it back, it ain’t never coming back.’ There was a lot of people that believed in it, but not enough. But enough switched got flipped, and enough fortunate things happened and here we are.”
Earnhardt Jr. was clearly in shock and found it all surreal, adding, “I still don’t believe it. Boy, imma tell you, that moment, getting ready to climb in that car, looking around seeing all those people getting ready, they were anticipating the race. The energy is so amazing.”
For a moment, he was struck hard by nostalgia, “It felt exactly like being here in 1990”, “It felt like there’s a Cup race just about to pop off with Rick Rudd and Dad and Bodine and Darrell and all those guys.”
North Wilkesboro is very special to Dale Earnhardt Jr.
In an exclusive interview with WX12 news, Dale Jr. opened up about how it felt to come back to this track.
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DOVER, DE – SEPTEMBER 29: 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 on September 29, 2017 in Dover, Delaware. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)
“I came to North Wilkesboro so many times as a kid,” said Junior, as he reminisced about his past racing with his father in the SunDrop Chevy. Fortunately, he was able to return to the track with the same sponsor, again!
He added, “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.”
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Watch This Story: Dale Earnhardt Jr Bets on Kyle Larson Fulfilling His Non-NASCAR Dream
It’s great to see him return to the track after so long!
