JR Motorsports addresses NASCAR’s ‘mistake’ regarding Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s return as crew chief

Fans were excited when they saw Dale Earnhardt Jr. listed as the crew chief for Connor Zilisch in his upcoming Xfinity race at Sonoma Raceway. However, JR Motorsports has confirmed that it was a mistake and that Dale Jr. will not be crew chief for the No. 88 team this coming weekend.

That being said, Dale Earnhardt Jr. flaunts a 100 percent win rate as a crew chief. A few weeks back at Pocono, he made his debut atop the pit box, leading Zilisch to his second win of the 2025 season.

Besides Zilisch, JR Motorsports currently fields Justin Allgaier, Sammy Smith, and Carson Kvapil as its full-time drivers. Renowned journalist and reporter Toby Christie announced the news on X (formerly known as Twitter). He wrote,

“JR Motorsports has confirmed the listing of Dale Earnhardt Jr. as Connor Zilisch’s crew chief on the entry list was a mistake, and Earnhardt will not serve as the crew chief this weekend.”

Toby Christie

@Toby_Christie

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JR Motorsports has confirmed the listing of Dale Earnhardt Jr. as Connor Zilisch’s crew chief on the entry list was a mistake, and Earnhardt will not serve as the crew chief this weekend.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a 26-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series. He is also a two-time Xfinity Series champion and owns 15 Most Popular Driver Awards. In 2021, the Kannapolis native was inducted into the prestigious NASCAR Hall of Fame. Two years later, he was named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers.

Since retiring in 2017, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been competing part-time in the Xfinity Series under the banner of his own team. However, he won’t run any NASCAR-sanctioned race in 2025 due to his preoccupations as a broadcaster for TNT and Amazon Prime.

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When Dale Earnhardt Jr. recalled meeting Tom Cruise as a kid

Back in a 2015 interview with Jeff Gluck of The Athletic, Dale Earnhardt Jr. recalled meeting Hollywood megastar Tom Cruise for the first time. The actor was preparing for his role in the 1990 film, Days of Thunder, and Dale Jr. was just a kid at the time.

More details about the encounter surfaced when Gluck asked the NASCAR veteran about the most cherished autograph he received as a fan. Dale Jr. replied,

“I got Tom Cruise’s autograph when he came. He was preparing for his role in Days of Thunder and he was going around talking to people. They brought him over to dad’s (Dale Earnhardt Sr.) farm, and him and dad went into dad’s office and sat in there for about an hour.”

Back then, there were rumors of Cruise offering Dale Earnhardt Sr. the role of Rowdy Burns, the film’s antagonist. Dale Jr. didn’t know if it was true, but as a kid, he was going to believe that.

“It was Tom and one of the producers, and it was pretty early in putting the film together,” Earnhardt Jr. recalled. “And the rumor is they had actually asked dad in that meeting to play Rowdy Burns. But I don’t know if that’s true. He never said that, but that was kind of the rumor that went around.”

It turns out that Dale Earnhardt Sr. had actually received the offer. But the legend turned it down because he did not want to play the role of a villain. Ultimately, it was Michael Rooker who bagged the part.