Former NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr has revealed which current Cup Series drivers remind him of his legendary racing father, Dale Earnhardt.

Earnhardt Sr is a NASCAR icon, having scooped a joint-record-breaking seven Cup Series championships during his career, as well as winning 76 Cup Series races.

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Those 76 victories included a win at the 1998 Daytona 500, just three years before a fatal crash at the same event in 2001.

Earnhardt Sr’s legacy and impact on the sport both live on, including through his son, Dale Jr, who had a fine Cup Series career himself.

These days, alongside owning an Xfinity Series team, Earnhardt Jr is in the booth covering Cup Series races for Prime Video, and recently, he was quizzed on which current drivers reminded him of his Dad.

“People are probably going to go crazy over this one, but [Carson] Hocevar a little bit is kinda like a young Dale Earnhardt in a way,” Earnhardt Jr told Prime Video.

“Makes a lot of mistakes, ruffles a lot of feathers, but he’s very fast, very aggressive.”

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Which NASCAR drivers remind Earnhardt Jr of Dale Sr?

Earnhardt Jr continued: “Ross Chastain reminds me a lot of Dad.”

“Anyone who has…even Joey Logano a little bit. Joey, he gets a little frustrated when he gets run over, but he’s one that puts the bumper to ‘em.

“He’s run a few guys up the racetrack and into the fence to win races.

“Yeah, that’s very much like Dad. He was pretty aggressive, especially at certain points in his career.

“Like I said, I’ll see that little glimpse or little peek of Dad’s style in a lot of different drivers, and I think it’s just human nature, really, what I’m seeing, but it’s comparable to Dad.”

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NASCAR results from Michigan International Speedway

They’re set for the green flag on NASCAR’s fastest track. The 2-mile oval of Michigan International Speedway is set to host the FireKeepers Casino 400.

View Michigan results for the NASCAR Cup Series below.

Michigan Menu
ARCA: Prac/Qual | Race
Truck: Prac | Qual | Race
Cup: Prac/Qual | Race

Michigan TV Schedule

Chase Briscoe and Kyle Busch set the front row. 200 laps of stock car racing are up next…

Michigan
Stage 1 – Report

Laps: 45 (1-45 / 200)

Green flag, they run side by side into turn one. Briscoe clears Busch via the outside lane off turn four.

Lap 4, Tyler Reddick started this race from the rear of the field after the team made repairs following practice. He’s now up to 20th.

Lap 12, William Byron has a run on Briscoe off turn two. Byron drives inside into turn three and completes the pass for the lead.

Lap 35, Buescher has a run on Byron off turn four. He sidedrafts him into turn one and Buescher takes the lead away.

Chris Buescher wins stage one at Michigan International Speedway!

Michigan Results (Stage 1) : 1. Chris Buescher; 2. William Byron; 3. Denny Hamlin; 4. Chase Briscoe; 5. Josh Berry; 6. Ryan Blaney; 7. Kyle Larson; 8. Bubba Wallace; 9. Kyle Busch; 10. Carson Hocevar

Michigan
Stage 2 – Report

Laps: 75 (46-120 / 200)

Buescher leads the field to the pit lane but it’s a slow stop for him. Ryan Blaney wins the race to the pit exit.

Green flag on stage two, Blaney clears Hamlin into turn one.

Lap 54, they form four wide for 2nd! Chase Elliott takes the spot away.

Lap 57, Elliott has a run on Blaney into turn one. He dives to the inside, Elliott to the race lead!

Lap 60, John Hunter Nemechek spins off turn two and Noah Gragson is collected. The caution is out.

Green, Elliott pinches Blaney down into turn one. Elliott leads Byron off turn two.

Lap 67, Austin Cindric tags Cole Custer in the left rear. Custer spins and collected Alex Bowman and Daniel Suarez. Bowman slams the outside wall nose first. The caution is out.

Alex Bowman crash video

Blaney leads most of the field to the pit lane but Reddick wins the race to the pit exit. Reddick restarts outside the top 10 as Elliott and Bell take over the front row.

Pit Penalties: Kyle Larson and AJ Allmendinger drop to the rear after speeding on the pit lane.

Green, Elliott clears Bell to hold the race lead.

Lap 73

Lap 73, John Hunter Nemechek is around, caution.

Elliott heads for the pit lane. Bell is handed the lead.

Green, Bell and McDowell fight for space in turn one. As they slow each other down, Byron drives under them to take the lead off turn two.

14 to go in stage two, Bell pits under green from 2nd as he can’t make it to the end of the stage on fuel.

12 to go in stage two, Ryan Blaney brushes the wall and spins off turn four. The caution is out.

Bell gets the free pass. Byron leads the field to the pit lane and pit exit. Cindric and Briscoe stay out and take over the front row.

Green with 7 to go in stage two, Byron shoves Briscoe into turn one. Briscoe wiggles and Cindric leads off turn two.

Reddick slides Cindric for the lead into turn three. Cindric crosses under him and Byron has a run on both of them into turn one. Cindric holds the lead.

2 to go in stage two, Byron dives inside of Cindric into turn three. Byron completes the pass into turn one on the final lap of the stage.

William Byron wins stage two at Michigan International Speedway!

Michigan Results (Stage 2) : 1. William Byron; 2. Austin Cindric; 3. Carson Hocevar; 4. Tyler Reddicl; 5. Ross Chastain; 6. Ryan Preece; 7. Bubba Wallace; 8. Denny Hamlin; 9. Ty Dillon; 10. Erik Jones

Michigan
Stage 3 – Report

Laps: 80 (121-200 / 200)

Cindric heads for the pit lane as most of the leaders stays out.

Green flag on stage three, Byron clears Hocevar to hold the race lead off turn two.

Lap 147, Todd Gilliland blows a left rear tire and slams the wall. The caution is out.

Byron leads the field to the pit lane. Zane Smith wins the race to the pit exit with just two tires. Hocevar is off 2nd with four tires.

Green, Larson shoves Hocevar and they form side by side off turn two. Larson sidedrafts into turn three and he drives deep to the bottom. Larson wiggles and Hocevar clears him for the lead.

27 to go

27 to go, Hocevar leads Byron and Larson. Larson is saving far more fuel than both the cars ahead.

19 to go, race leader Hocevar has a flat left rear! He heads to the pit lane under green as Byron is handed the lead.

Hamlin to 2nd.

7 to go

7 to go, Byron throws a big block on Hamlin and he holds the lead into turn one.

5 to go, Byron and Hamlin dive for the bottom into turn one. Byron gets aero loose and wiggles up the track. Hamlin works inside of him.

4 to go, Hamlin sidedrafts Byron and slides him for the lead into turn three.

Coming to the white flag, Byron heads for the pit lane as he’s out of fuel.

Denny Hamlin wins at Michigan International Speedway!

Michigan International Speedway
Race Results
June 8, 2025
NASCAR Cup Series

Pos | Driver

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Chris Buescher

3. Ty Gibbs

4. Bubba Wallace

5. Kyle Larson

6. Ross Chastain

7. Zane Smith

8. Kyle Busch

9. Ryan Preece

10. Brad Keselowski

11. Erik Jones

12. Josh Berry

13. Tyler Reddick

14. Daniel Suarez

15. Chase Elliott

16. Christopher Bell

17. AJ Allmendinger

18. Shane van Gisbergen

19. Austin Dillon

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr

21. Justin Haley

22. Joey Logano

23. Chase Briscoe

24. Ty Dillon

25. Riley Herbst

26. Cody Ware

27. Noah Gragson

28. William Byron

29. Carson Hocevar

30. Michael McDowell

31. Austin Cindric

32. Ryan Blaney

33. Todd Gilliland

34. John Hunter Nemechek

35. Cole Custer

36. Alex Bowman

NASCAR Cup Series
Point Standings

Pos | Driver | Wins | Points

1. Kyle Larson
3 Wins

2. Denny Hamlin
3 Wins

3. Christopher Bell
3 Wins

4. William Byron
1 Win

5. Ryan Blaney
1 Win

6. Joey Logano
1 Win

7. Austin Cindric
1 Win

8. Josh Berry
1 Win

9. Ross Chastain
1 Win

10. Chase Elliott
+142

11. Tyler Reddick
+138

12. Bubba Wallace
+61

13. Chase Briscoe
+41

14. Chris Buescher
+41

15. Alex Bowman
+13

16. Ryan Preece
+0

— Playoff Cutline —

17. Kyle Busch
-0

18. Carson Hocevar
-18

19. AJ Allmendinger
-18

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
-20

Click here to view Regular Season point standings

Michigan International Speedway
Video Highlights

Links

Michigan International Speedway | NASCAR

What’s Happening?

After a 13-year absence, and a lot of speculation this week, it was finally made official in Motor City: Dodge is coming back to NASCAR! This is in the form of the Dodge RAM in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. During today’s live announcement, RAM CEO Tim Kuninskis unveiled the return of the Dodge RAM to the product show floor of Dodge dealers across the country as well as a new NASCAR 1500 concept race truck that will hit the Daytona high-banks in February of next year.

For more than a decade, customers and our dealer network asked about getting back into NASCAR. The desire was always there, but we didn’t have a plan that delivered the last tenth and following just didn’t fit our DNA. Now we have a solid plan that will set us apart from the field and will bring fresh new interest and engagement to America’s Motorsport.”

-Tim Kuninskis

You Need to Know:

• This announcement is part of RAM’s 25 announcements of products over an 18-month cadence. 40% of NASCAR fans are truck owners, many of them Dodge RAM owners. The timing of this announcement made sense.
• As alluded to in the quote above, Dodge has a plan to reintroduce its brand into NASCAR. Starting off, they will rejoin the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for the first time since the 2012 season. The plan includes moving up into the NASCAR Xfinity and Cup Series eventually, though the details and specifics of that have yet to be revealed.
• Teams that will be switching to the Dodge RAM or will be debuting alongside the new manufacturer have yet to be announced. No drivers are currently linked to the new brand. However, there have been rumors this week linking YouTube star Cleetus McFarland (aka Garrett Mitchel) to the Dodge brand. Currently Mitchel’s contact is through FORD so it remains to be seen if this will actually come to fruition.

At Michigan on Sunday, it was clear that the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was going to be difficult to beat. He won a stage, collected the fastest lap bonus, and led 98 of 200 laps.

He fought hard to hang on to the race lead in the closing stages, but Byron couldn’t hold back a charging Denny Hamlin. Byron was still going to finish second or third when the car finally ran out of fuel at the exit of Turn 4, despite his best efforts to save, coming just over two miles shy of the race finish. He dove into the pits and finished 28th instead.

Never had enough in the tank

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

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“No, we didn’t have enough,” said Byron when asked if there was anything different he could have done. “We were going to run out with 1.5 laps to go and I was just trying to manage both — trying to keep the lead and manage the gap and save fuel down the straight and on (corner) exit and everything. We just didn’t … ultimately, not as good mileage as the guys that were further back to start that run. And that’s just the way the cautions go and the nature of being closer to the front and burning more fuel.

“I don’t know, that one is like, you can’t really do a lot about (it). It sucks, it really stings but we had a really good car. I thought we executed well. It seemed like we waited a little bit on fuel for the last stop, and jsut burned more and not able to do much about that. It is what it is.”

Byron leads the regular season standings, but since earning victory in the season-opening Daytona 500, he’s had several almost-wins slip through his fingers. He led the most laps at Darlington, Charlotte, and now Michigan, but failed to reach Victory Lane each time

The good news is that he remains comfortably ahead in the championship, now leading teammate Kyle Larson by 41 points.

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Read Also:

Ty Gibbs says a “win is more important than third” after strong Michigan finish

Denny Hamlin makes the fuel last for a dramatic Cup win at Michigan

To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.

BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) — Alex Bowman hit a wall with the front end of his No. 48 Chevrolet as part of a multi-car crash in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan on Sunday.

Bowman got out of the car on his own and walked to an ambulance that transported him to the infield for an evaluation, which he passed.

“That hurt a lot,” he said. “I’ve taken a lot of hits.”

Austin Cindric’s No. 2 Ford made contact with Cole Custer’s No. 41 Ford and Daniel Suarez’s No. 99 Chevrolet, leading to Bowman colliding with the wall on lap 67 of the 200-lap race.

Bowman, who drives for Hendrick Motorsports, came to Michigan 12th in points and will drop in the standings after this latest setback.

He has finished 27th or worse in seven of his last nine starts and didn’t finish for a third time during the rough stretch.

Bowman was in the top 10 in five of the first six races this year, including a runner-up finish at Homestead-Miami in March. He earned his eighth career Cup Series victory last year at Chicago.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing