Jeffrey Earnhardt is a fourth-generation member of a racing family who has been trying to make his way to the highest levels in NASCAR during the past 10 years. Now, in 2021, he’ll be racing regularly for JD Motorsports in NASCAR’s secondary series. Gary Keller was the one to announce that Earnhardt will rejoin their team to drive the No. 0 Chevrolet in the full season of the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Jeffrey Earnhardt Was On a Twelve-race Schedule for JD Motorsports in 2020

Back in 2017, Jeffrey Earnhardt was trying to make his way in the Cup Series and ran a nearly full season for car owner, Joe Falk. Then, in 2019, Earnhardt returned to the Xfinity Series and ran a part-time schedule for Joe Gibbs Racing. There, he was racing behind the wheel of the No. 18 Toyota. Although Earnhardt went through all of the six races he did for Gibbs in a very competitive manner, he managed to score three Top 10 finishes and his career-best third-place at Charlotte. After Earnhardt achieved all he would with the team, he was quick to return to JD Motorsports in 2020.

Having limited equipment and resources, Jeffrey Earnhardt performed well for JD Motorsports. The team had become a respected independent race team and Earnhardt scored an average finish of 22.7. Thirteen of his finishes were inside the Top 20 and his best one for the season came at the Charlotte Roval in October. There, he finished 11th and managed to do so during a rainy day and on a flooded track.

Jeffrey Earnhardt Is the Latest Full-time Driver to Have Been Confirmed for the Xfinity Series

It was confirmed that many drivers would run full-time in the Xfinity Series for 2021, and all of them would like to dethrone defending series champion, Austin Cindric. On his route to the title in 2020, he won six races. The return of Jeffrey Earnhardt to JD Motorsports in 2021 is the second driver announcement the team has made recently. They also announced that South Carolina driver Colby Howard will be the full-time driver for their Chevrolet No. 15.

While Tony Stewart has done a little bit of everything when it comes to motorsports, drag racing was still uncharted territory for the semi-retired racer. At least, that was the case before he rectified that deficiency during his recent trip to the Frank Hawley School of Drag Racing. In the company of his girlfriend and NHRA Top Fuel racer Leah Pruett, Stewart did some runs.

Stewart’s Girlfriend and Drag Racer Leah Pruett Gave Instructions

With his girlfriend giving him instructions, Tony Steward became familiar with the process and mounted an automatic transmission dragster. A camera crew managed to document his first steps into drag racing and posted a video on Stewart’s YouTube channel. Before going down the drag strip, he had to get used to the “Christmas tree” lighting system which racers currently use to start each run down the strip.

Stewart used a Super Comp car for his first drag racing experience and then he moved into one of Frank Hawley’s Alcohol Dragsters, using an automatic transmission. Hawley, who is the founder of the school, said that they would use such a setup to let new drivers get used to driving an Alcohol or Top Fuel dragster. According to him, this allows drivers to quickly learn what they can and cannot do with the vehicle. Hawley also said that Stewart had experience with fast cars and this was not an issue to him at all.

Frank Hawley Is a World Champion Who Has Been Teaching Drag Racing for Decades

A two-time NHRA Funny Car world champion himself, Frank Hawley has taught both pros and amateurs how to navigate a dragster. Regarding Stewart’s performance, he said that Tony was world-class at everything he had ever done and unsurprisingly had no problems with a drag race car. He added that Stewart was a great and neat guy who was very humble and easy to talk to.

Stewart made around a dozen runs in the two cars, earning a Top Dragster license. Despite the whole event, he has not indicated to have any intention to enter the professional drag racing scene.