Dale Earnhardt Jr. is hitting the track once again.
No, he won’t be driving a modern iteration of a NASCAR stock car. The two NASCAR Xfinity Series champions will instead be wheeling some 1980s technology in the form of a Chevrolet Nova.
Earnhardt will pace the Xfinity field at Darlington Raceway on May 8 driving his father Dale Earnhardt’s No. 8 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet.
I plan on taking the Nova to Darlington to pace the field before the start of the Xfinity race. If you wanna be there to enjoy that with me… https://t.co/S7Lmc9wVXS pic.twitter.com/gwIgJY87U7
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) March 5, 2021
The historic vehicle was used by the elder Earnhardt during the 1980s in the Xfinity Series.
Earnhardt Sr. piloted the No. 8 part-time between 1984 and 1988, tallying eight wins and four poles.
After the car in question was retired, it changed hands and was taken out of the public eye. In 2019, the younger Earnhardt Jr. found and repurchased it, bringing it back into the legendary racing family.
Since then, Earnhardt Jr. has led an effort to restore the car along with longtime crew member and Earnhardt Jr’s uncle Robert Gee Jr. The restoration progress has been well documented on Twitter.
Nova Restoration Update: ? #InRobertGeeJrWeTrust pic.twitter.com/kdTKGmo9qa
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) June 13, 2019
You can catch the No. 8 lead the field at Darlington Raceway on May 8 with the green flag scheduled to drop at 1:00 p.m. ET. Live TV coverage will be provided by Fox Sports 1.
Never at a loss for words, Zach Gillispie is a young, talented marketing professional from North Carolina who talks and writes on the side about his first love: racing! Since joining Frontstretch in 2018, Zach has served in numerous roles where he currently pens the NASCAR 101 column, a weekly piece delving into the basic nuts and bolts of the sport. Additionally, his unabashedly bold takes meshed with that trademarked dry wit of his have made Zach a fan favorite on the weekly Friday Faceoff panel. In his free time, he can be found in the great outdoors, actively involved in his church, cheering on his beloved Atlanta Braves or ruthlessly pestering his colleagues with completely useless statistics about Delma Cowart.