Dale Earnhardt Jr. says upcoming race will bring back some great memories

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV/Gray News) – Dale Earnhardt Jr. will race Wednesday night at the historic North Wilkesboro Motor Speedway driving a car painted in the throwback bright green Sun Drop paint scheme.

“I came to North Wilkesboro so many times as a kid,” Earnhardt said in a press release obtained by WBTV. “It’s a special place. I never thought I’d get a chance to race around here again.”

The NASCAR driver said Sun Drop was one of his first sponsors and were with his dad for years.

Earnhardt Jr. will enter the Window World 125 CARS Tour event at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

The race will mark the NASCAR Hall of Famer’s first late-model stock car start since 1997 and his first race at North Wilkesboro since 1995.

The car will bear a very close resemblance to the car Earnhardt Jr., ran in the early 1990s, including at North Wilkesboro in 1993. Dale Earnhardt Sr. won five NASCAR Cup Series races at the track.

“To put this program together with Sun Drop, who sponsored my late model in ‘93, I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Earnhardt said. “Seeing the Sun Drop Chevy at Wilkesboro again will bring back some great memories for me.”

The event on Wednesday begins with a concert at 5:45 p.m. featuring Dirty Grass Soul. Driver introductions are set to begin at 7 p.m., and the race will begin at 7:30 p.m.