Jeffrey Earnhardt to make his Nationwide debut at Dover
Jeffrey Earnhardt is finally ready to attempt to make his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut this weekend at Dover International Speedway.
It has been six weeks since Rick Ware Racing announced that the 19-year-old grandson of Dale Earnhardt Sr. would drive the No. 31 Chevrolet at Dover, and all Earnhardt could do since then was wait.
Earnhardt did run the NASCAR Camping World East/West Series race at Iowa Speedway recently to knock the rust off, but he still has his eyes on the Dover Nationwide race.
“We’re pretty excited,” Earnhardt said recently. “We went and did the Iowa race and got a little bit of racing practice. It has been awhile since I’ve been in a car. We went out there and ran good. I was pretty pumped with our finish there. We had a good car and finished fourth. I had a better car than that but we just stayed out of trouble and ran the race the whole day.”
That’s just what Earnhardt hopes to accomplish at Dover.
“I’ve got a good car going there and a good group of guys going with us,” Earnhardt said. “Hopefully, we’ll stay out of trouble and have a good race.”
The car Earnhardt will use is an older Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet, one that he has used in Camping World East Series races and won that uncle Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove in what was then known as the Busch Series.
“We’ve got a few cars sitting around, and that seemed like the best one to take,” Earnhardt said. “We picked that one out, and we’re getting it ready.”
Rick Ware’s team does not have a guaranteed starting spot since it is outside the top 30 in the Nationwide owner standings, but Earnhardt is confident he can get the car in the field.
“We want to make sure we have a good race car, too,” Earnhardt said. “I don’t see any reason why we can’t go there and at least make the show. We know we’re going there with a good car, good motor – we’re running an [Earnhardt Childress Racing] motor. Everything’s going to be there in place to have a good run. It’s just going out there and getting the hang of everything and getting the feel of everything.
“It’s going to be something new. It’ll be new for me and for everyone else, just having someone who’s never been out there before.”
Earnhardt said he wasn’t nervous in the Camping World race at Iowa two weeks ago, but he’ll probably have butterflies Friday at Dover.
“I was actually pretty surprised with getting in the car [at Iowa] after being out for a while,” Earnhardt said. “I really wasn’t that nervous. I’m sure I will be at Dover, just because it’s my first Nationwide race. You get the jitters right before you pull out on the track, but once you get on the track, they all go away. It’s strictly focused on racing.”
