MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Sept. 3, 2024) – Dale Earnhardt Jr. loves racing at Florence Motor Speedway, and the NASCAR Hall of Fame driver showed it on Friday night by racing to a solid 10th-place finish in the zMAX CARS Tour Late Mode Stock Car event on the venerable oval.
Driving the familiar No. 3 Sun Drop Chevrolet, Earnhardt Jr. qualified 22nd for the 125-lap event, putting him deep in the field for the start. Saving his tires and his car, Earnhardt Jr. rode in the pack until the latter stages. With about 60 laps remaining in the event, it was time to turn up the wick and chase the front.
Racing three-wide and up close, Earnhardt Jr. pushed his Chevrolet into the top 10, battling among a pack of cars that included three-time series champion Bobby McCarty and recent series winner Treyten Lapcevich, passing both in the latter stages to earn the top-10 result.
Ryan Millington won the race in a battle over Brenden Queen, with Matt Cox, Connor Hall and Mason Diaz rounding out the top five.
Next action for the JR Motorsports Late Model team will be Sept. 14 at South Boston (Va.) Speedway.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver, No. 3 Sun Drop Chevrolet
“It is just so tough qualifying this car. I think we should have qualified from fifth to 10th. I have to pick that up. Started around 22nd and just kind of rode along until we got to around 60 or so to go. At that point, we just hammered down, had some fun and raced some of these guys. I had a lot left in the Sun Drop Chevrolet, a lot of tire left. It’s a tough, competitive series. It’s fun to be out there and duke it out with them. I want to finish as good as I can and have some opportunities to win a race or two, but showing up to run four or five races a year against these drivers and teams, we’re sort of handicapped a little. It’s a blast, and I love Florence. We’ve been coming here for the last couple of years and I’ll probably be here in November.
