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Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Daytona International Speedway go together like peanut butter and jelly. This makes him an obvious choice to test NASCAR's Next Gen car at the world-famous Super Speedway.
Hendrick Motorsports sent a teaser tweet Monday morning showing Dale's signature skeleton driving gloves.
And it didn't take long for Earnhardt to confirm he'd be testing the new car.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a two-time Daytona 500 champion, winning the event in 2004 and again in 2014. His dominance on the track over his career earned him the nickname the "pied piper" of Daytona.
Daytona testing will mark the driver's second assignment for the Next Gen cars. He shared responsibilities with Clint Bowyer at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in October last year. Earnhardt is filling in for Kyle Larson, who is in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the 2022 Chili Bowl Nationals.
Testing at Daytona is set to take place on January 11th and 12th. It will allow NASCAR to fine tune and finalize its rules package, as well as letting race teams make notes and adjustments for the Daytona 500, which will kick off with practice on Tuesday, February 15th.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. to be inducted into NASCAR Hall of Fame
15-time NASCAR 'most popular driver' Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be officially inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame January 21st, 2022.
Earnhardt Jr. has raced in the NASCAR Cup Series for 17 seasons amassing 26 Cup Series wins, including two Daytona 500 victories.
“I’m excited you know...We’ve been waiting for a couple years, kind of getting pushed back on the induction ceremony, but that’s fine. I wanted to have a genuine experience like everybody that’s went in before.”
Joining Earnhardt in the 2021 Hall of Fame class are Red Farmer and Mike Stefanik.
Red has totaled over 700 victories, with many of those wins coming in the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman division, where he won 3 consecutive championships from 1969-1971.
Stefanik won seven NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Championships. In 2003 he was named one of the tour's 10 greatest drivers of all time. He spent one season in the NASCAR Gandar Outdoor Truck Series, where he captured the Rookie of the Year Award in 1999.
