Dale Earnhardt Jr. reveals his wife wants him to race Daytona 500 in 2027

It would be interesting and exciting to see Dale Jr. make a return to The Great American Race. The 51-year-old has had his share of success at the Daytona 500, winning the race in 2004 and 2014. Earnhardt has also finished runner-up in 2001, 2010, 2012, and 2013.

The last time Earnhardt competed in the Daytona was in 2017. He earned a P2 position in qualifying, but an early crash ended his day and led to a 37th-place finish.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. never ruled out returning to Daytona

Earnhardt’s last Cup Series race at Daytona happened later in the 2017 season. Before that race, Earnhardt, who retired from full-time racing at the end of 2017, told reporters he would not rule out racing at the track again.

“Well, you never say never,” Earnhardt said at the time, per ESPN. “I’m just retiring from full-time racing. I’m going to run some XFINITY races next year. I don’t know that I won’t ever run the Daytona 500 again, if the right deal comes along. All these tracks you have memories at, all of them, Daytona included.

“I’m going to be coming back to these tracks, and I want to continue to be part of the sport. I don’t know how it’s going to affect me, really. It’s hard for me to put that into words because I don’t know what that is going to feel like. It will be pretty weird, I think, to come back to the 500. I’m going to go to the 500 whether I’ve got any work to do or not. It will be pretty weird to be there and not race.”