Dale Jr. Hopes To Finish Big At The Coca-Cola 600

CHARLOTTE, NC — Eleven down, and 25 more races to go as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. continues his final NASCAR season.

Like most drivers, his ultimate team goal is to go out on top with a championship, but his biggest personal racing goal hits closer to home.

“I have a lot of great memories here, from watching races, I ran my first race here,” said Dale, Jr., and on Sunday night he will make his final start in the Coca-Cola 600.

Junior says any win in his final season would be great, “but if I had to pick? Charlotte you know would be. Winning the 600 would mean a lot.”

NASCAR’s longest race tops Earnhardt’s bucket list for several reasons, including sentimental ones.

“Never won a points race in Charlotte and it stings a little bit because this is our home track and we grew up in this area. That’d be a very incredible feeling to me to win in Charlotte. Especially the 600, because of the fact that it is a 600-mile race, there’s no other race like that on the circuit.
That makes it a bit of a crown jewel for me.”

In junior’s 17 previous starts, he’s come close.

A career-best third place finish in 2015, and of course, that heartbreaker in 2011 when he ran out of gas coming out of turn four on the final lap.
While Dale chases his first 600 win, fans are chasing junior.

One fan said, “We’ll follow him anywhere.” Another says, “We would love to see junior win that.”

“He’s never won, so we want him to, cause this is the way to go out.”

If he does go out with checkers, former track president and GM Humpy Wheeler expects ‘all Dale’ to break loose at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Wheeler says, “Unfortunately, most of the grandstands here are concrete, so people can’t tear them down, but they would try,” says Wheeler. “That would be something else! That would be crazy. People would be here for two days.”