Dale Earnhardt Jr. made official Tuesday what many felt was a forgone conclusion: he will race at a JR Motorsports entry in the CARS Tour during North Wilkesboro’s Racetrack Revival on Wednesday, Aug. 31.
His No. 3 late model Chevy will carry a green and yellow paint scheme which is a tribute to the late model Earnhardt Jr. drove at North Wilkesboro in 1993. The then-18-year-old racer wheeled a Sun Drop-branded car in a dozen races that year.
“I came to North Wilkesboro so many times as a kid,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “It’s a special place. I never thought I’d get a chance to race around here again. To put th
is program together with Sun Drop, who sponsored my late model in ’93, I wouldn’t want it any other way. They were with my dad for years and one of my first sponsors. Seeing the Sun Drop Chevy at Wilkesboro again will bring back some great memories for me.”
The Earnhardt family’s connection to Sun Drop, owned by Keurig Dr Pepper out of Frisco, Texas, dates back to 1989 when the citrus-flavored brand first partnered with Earnhardt Sr. It quickly became a fan-favorite combination that coupled the elder Earnhardt’s on-track success with Sun Drop’s regional popularity in the southeast.
Earnhardt owned Dirty Mo Media will be on hand to document the event, with plans to produce a deeply personal video series called Roots & Revival that will capture Earnhardt Jr.’s journey leading up to, and including, the North Wilkesboro CARS Tour race. The six-part series will be featured exclusively on Dirty Mo Media’s YouTube channel on Tuesday, Aug. 9.
Earnhardt Jr. joins teammate Carson Kvapil in the No. 8 Chevrolet to round out JRM’s two-car lineup for the event. The CARS Tour race from historic North Wilkesboro is part of three series competing on Wednesday, Aug. 31. The green flag drops at approximately 7:30 p.m. ET with the race broadcast available on racingamerica.tv and racexr.plus.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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