"We’re open to any, and all sort of scenarios" - Dale Earnhardt Jr. could go NASCAR Cup Series racing with JR Motorsports

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has played many roles, from being an entrepreneur with his own brand of vodka to being a team owner and driver at JR Motorsports, since he retired from full-time racing.

The 47-year-old fields the JR Motorsports team in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with drivers Sam Mayer, Justin Allgaier, Josh Berry and Noah Gragson driving for the Mooresville, North Carolina-based racing outfit.

The governing body's charter system for teams. The sixth generation of cars that raced through 2013 all the way up to 2021 were the primary reasons why Earnhardt Jr. did not consider entering his team in the Cup Series.

With the introduction of the seventh generation cars, also dubbed the 'Next Gen' cars, Earnhardt Jr. is re-evaluating his decisions. The NASCAR Hall of Famer elaborated in a conversation with Dave Moody of SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and said:

“Well, it’s just not going to happen for 2022. We’re open to any, and all sort of scenarios that could get us to that point, and I think the more that we talk about it, the more intrigued we are as a group at JR Motorsports to go Cup racing. I think as time passes, we get more and more interested in it."

One of the prerequisites the Kannapolis North Carolina native touched upon during his conversation is that of sponsorship for the team. Motor sports being an expensive affair, it is not financially liable for an outfit to go racing on its own, which is also accentuated by NASCAR's revenue and sponsorship model.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. elaborated on the topic on the podcast, saying:

"We don’t want to put ourselves in an unreasonable position financially to not succeed. There’s a lot of things that have to fall into place, and a lot of dominoes got to fall correctly for us to get there, but if we could be there and we could make it happen, we want to be there. I think that more than likely we’re going to have to go into the Cup Series with a partner. And finding that partner that you’re comfortable with. Somebody that you want to go win with."

It remains to be seen if JR Motorsports will make their Cup Series debut in 2023, if at all.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. looks back on how his father instilled vitality in him

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently appeared on the Youth Inc. podcast along with Kyle Busch, where the duo talked on a range of different topics with Greg Olsen. When asked if being the son of Dale Earnhardt made it easy for him to make it into the stock car racing world, the 37-year-old said:

"He didn’t show any interest in me becoming a race car driver. And he’s like, ‘Well, what are you doing to make that happen?’ And I’m like, ‘What do you mean?’ He’s like, ‘Well you should be in the garage cleaning tools, I was sweeping floors when I was your age.’ I’m like, ‘Well how does that get me to driving?’

"That don’t make no sense, right? And it took me a while to figure that out, but he would not lift a finger unless you were willing to do the same, you know, and show some initiative.”

Listen to the podcast below:

Keep an eye out for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team JR Motorsports as they might make their Cup Series debut official in the future.