Dale Earnhardt Jr. Discusses His Future as Crew Chief for JR Motorsports originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. cautiously revealed that he is open to taking up the mantle of crew chief again for JR Motorsports if the situation arises. Despite his debut win at Pocono, he won’t be lobbying for the role in the future unless the team truly requires him to do so again.
Following regular chief Mardy Lindley’s one-week suspension, Earnhardt stepped in as the interim crew chief for his Xfinity Series team at The Tricky Triangle. Taking up the new role, the Hall of Famer had big shoes to fill, as Lindley led three JRM drivers to nine Xfinity race wins since 2023.
However, being a race-winning driver and owner, the NASCAR Hall of Famer lived up to his name as the crew chief for JRM’s No. 88 Chevrolet at Pocono. After guiding Connor Zilisch’s Xfinity win this week, he has managed to become one of the few with NASCAR victories as a driver, owner, and crew chief.
After his debut win at Pocono, the now-crew chief left the doors open to return to the role only if the situation arose, calling it a team decision rather than a personal one. “I mean, it’s really up to the crew chiefs and the teams individually,” Earnhardt said.
“I would never walk into the shop and say, ‘Hey, I’d be up for doing it.’ I’m not going to do that. But if we find ourselves, unfortunately, where Jim (Pohlman) or somebody gets suspended—or even Mardy again—if they want me to do it, I would absolutely happily do it.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. leaves the door open to be an interim crew chief again. But only if the absent crew chief wants him to do it (as Mardy Lindley did today). pic.twitter.com/4EHvENDPfi
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 22, 2025
Despite having the power and backup support as co-owner, he also revealed that he won’t be lobbying for crew chief duties in the future.
“I would feel confident that we could go out and get a good result if we needed to do this again. But I’m not going to seek it out. It was a lot of fun and pressure, definitely out of my wheelhouse for sure, and I had tons of support,” the 50-year-old concluded.
As for now, the JRM co-owner will watch from the sidelines as his rising star, Zilisch, takes on Atlanta Motor Speedway next.
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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 24, 2025, where it first appeared.
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