LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — Dale Earnhardt Jr. might already be NASCAR’s most popular crew chief.

He’s certainly an undefeated one.

Pressed into unexpected service, Earnhardt called the shots for 18-year-old prospect Connor Zilisch in the No. 88 Chevrolet and they landed in victory lane Saturday in the second-tier Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway.

“It felt good to have some input and decision-making power,” Earnhardt said. “And then helping Connor understand what our plan was so he knew when to push and what he was expected to do.”

Earnhardt — who won NASCAR’s most-popular driver award 15 times — made a pit stop from his day job as team owner at JR Motorsports with normal crew chief Mardy Lindley suspended one race because of a lug nut infraction this month at Nashville.

Aside from his duties as team owner, Earnhardt also was at Pocono for his role on the Prime broadcast for the NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday.

“Lot of fun for me today,” Earnhardt said. “I missed the thrill of competition. I love broadcast, don’t get me wrong. But nothing compares to driving or just being part of the team. Being an owner doesn’t really deliver like this. This is a lot of fun.”

Earnhardt had his wife and two young daughters in tow with him as he made the celebratory walk to victory lane. Oldest daughter Isla Rose clutched the checkered flag while youngest Nicole Lorraine soaked in the scene from her dad’s arms.

“I love that they just get to experience things about NASCAR,” Earnhardt said. “I had such a great time growing up as a kid in this sport, just running around here. I want them to have that opportunity and understand that this is a place where they could create opportunities for themselves down the road.”

The win continued a banner season for the NASCAR Hall of Fame driver — who swept two races at Pocono as a driver in 2014 — after JR Motorsports and reigning Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier qualified for the season-opening Daytona 500 and secured their Cup Series debut.

Earnhardt won two Daytona 500s, in 2004 and 2014, and 26 races overall.

His side hustle Saturday was made a bit easier with Zilisch behind the wheel. Zilisch, who turns 19 in July, raced to his second Xfinity victory of the season and third of his young career. He won his Xfinity debut last year at Watkins Glen International.

Earnhardt even pitched in during the race and tossed tires over the wall during pit stops.

“Midway through the race man, I was feeling it,” Earnhardt said.

Zilisch took the win down to the wire and finally passed Jesse Love with five laps left in the race. Love finished second.

“Dale Junior, not too bad on the box,” Zilisch said. “Pretty cool to have him up there. Getting him a 1-for-1 win as crew chief is pretty awesome.”

Even with the victory, it just might be one-and-done on the pit box for Earnhardt.

“I don’t know that I see myself doing it again,” he said.

___

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

18-year-old Connor Zilisch earned his first oval win Saturday at Pocono Raceway, and he did it with help from ‘rookie’ crew chief and JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. atop the box. Zilisch made the pass for the win on Jesse Love with just a few laps to go before hanging on to capture the checkered flag.

“I’ve been dying for this one for a while now,” said Zilisch. “I know it hasn’t felt like that long but man, I’ve been so close on the ovals lately. I finished second at Charlotte, second at Nashville and yeah, Dale Jr.’s not so bad on the box. Pretty cool to have him up there. Thank you so much to the entire JR Motorsports team.

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About working with Dale Jr., Zilisch added: “It’s pretty funny, he [Earnhardt] was kicking me in the ass on some of those restarts, giving me some advice. The advice from him is advice well taken from me so it’s really cool to have him and get him 1-1 with a win as a crew chief. That’s pretty awesome as well. But yeah, Marty did everything right to set this car up as well and I wish he could have been on the box today.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr., JR Motorsports Chevrolet

As for the winning crew chief, Earnhardt said of the experience:  “(Regular crew chief Mardy Lindley) did a great job putting us in a position to succeed and we had a lot of things go our way, a lot of good luck and great strategy. Had a little help from [Steve] Letarte up here … he was a big help. But everybody on this team, just amazing all weekend long. And one great race car driver in Connor Zilisch. He’s going to be a big deal in this sport for a long time. A lot of fun for me today.”

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Earnhardt continued: “I miss the thrill of competition. I love broadcasting, don’t get me wrong, but nothing compares to driving or just being part of the team. Being an owner doesn’t really deliver like this. It was a lot of fun.”

Christian Eckes ended up with a career-best finish of third, pole-sitter Chase Elliott in fourth, and Ryan Sieg fifth. Carson Kvapil, Sam Mayer, Sammy Smith, Taylor Gray, and Justin Allgaier filled out the remainder of the top ten.

The run to the finish

The NASCAR Xfinity race at Pocono featured a record ten cautions with various incidents throughout the 100-lap event. The final stage of the race started the way things ended up finishing with Zilisch leading Love, but a lot happened in those final 45 laps.

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As drivers worked to hit their fuel number, Zilisch stayed out until Elliott was about to run him down, diving to the pits. Earnhardt, who was already working as the crew chief, came down off the pit box to help as a tire catcher.

But before Elliott could respond, there was a caution for a single-car spin. That pushed Zilisch back to the lead and put Elliott on the second row for a restart with 25 laps to go. Elliott managed to get back to the race lead in time for the next restart, which came with 15 laps to go. But yet another incident forced the leaders to do it all over again.

While Elliott was strong on every restart, this one would not go his way. With 13 laps to go, he lined up alongside Allgaier. The reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion got sideways as the field entered Turn 1. He hit Elliott’s door and while both drivers managed to avoid an incident, they also lost several spots as the cars slid up the track.

This cleared the way for Love, who now led the race with just six laps to go. Zilisch gave him a friendly push clear of Eckes on what would be the final restart before taking the lead for himself soon after.

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While this is Zilisch’s first win on an oval, it is his third career win as a NASCAR Xfinity Series driver.

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Denny Hamlin earns Pocono pole as William Byron wrecks in wild qualifying session

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To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.

LONG POND — Pocono Raceway paints its signature black rocks outside the garage in gold lettering with a last name and race car number highlighted to honor some of NASCAR’s greats. Jimmie Johnson has one. So does Richard Petty, among others.

So where’s the celebratory boulder for Denny Hamlin, who holds the track record with seven wins and saw another victory thrown out in 2022 because of a disqualification?

Hamlin laughed when he said Pocono officials told him the requirement was, “either retire or die.”

At 44 years old, Hamlin — who just welcomed a son with fiancee Jordan Fish — should have the prime of his life ahead.

As for retirement? What, and miss out on all the fun?

Even without a Cup championship on his resume, Hamlin remains a dominant force in the sport and he showed again Saturday why he’s the driver to beat on the 2 1/2-mile tri-oval track. Hamlin skipped last week’s race in Mexico City after his son’s birth and returned without missing a beat, turning a lap of 172.599 mph to take the top spot in Sunday’s race.

“Truthfully, I’m on a run,” Hamlin said. “I don’t know how else to say it.”

Yes, life is good for Hamlin, especially after the couple welcomed their third child, Jameson Drew Hamlin, on June 11. Hamlin shared in a social media post that the baby was delivered at 8 pounds, 4 ounces and was measured at 22 3/4 inches. The name has special meaning: The three-time Daytona 500 champion’s given name is James Dennis Alan Hamlin. So his son’s name is for James’ son and the JD theme is for two men (JD Gibbs and James Dean) who helped launch his career path into NASCAR.

Hamlin said a difficult labor and the logistical issues of traveling on short notice to Mexico forced him to miss the race.

“If we were racing at Darlington,” he said, “I would have been there on race day.”

The layoff didn’t affect Hamlin. He earned his third NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season and 57th of his career on June 8 at Michigan International Speedway and jumped right back into the top spot at Pocono.

Maybe some unexpected rest this week helped Hamlin crush it in the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

“He’s slept through the night the last three nights in a row. So it’s been really, really great,” Hamlin said.

If anything keeps Hamlin stirring at night, it’s the acrimonious legal fight with NASCAR that continues to drag in court.

A federal judge urged NASCAR and two of its teams to settle their lawsuit that spilled over into tense arguments during a hearing this week. 23XI Racing, which is owned by Hamlin and Michael Jordan, is fighting with NASCAR along with Front Row Motorsports. The two teams say the series is a monopoly, but NASCAR has struck back with a countersuit of its own.

Jeffrey Kessler, an attorney representing the teams, said he was open to a settlement. Hamlin said Saturday at Pocono he also was open to a settlement, but said no offer of one had been made on their side and wouldn’t be at least until there is a mediation attempt. Kessler said NASCAR was uninterested in a settlement.

“I have stated publicly cooler heads will prevail,” Hamlin said. “I can tell you this, this is not on our end that needs cooler heads. I think the difference is they’re saying different things on their side. We’re prepared to go all the way.”

Hamlin is going to try and go all the way and win at Pocono with his fifth pole in 36 races at the track.

Hamlin is the 5-1 betting favorite to win Sunday, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.

“It’s a track that no matter the car we drive or the tires or the aero package, none of that really matters,” Hamlin said. “You still make speed at this racetrack the same way no matter what car you are driving. I think it’s been one of the few tracks I haven’t had to change my approach to it depending on the car that I’m driving. I think that’s why the success has been sustained.”

The rest of the lineup

Chris Buescher starts second at Pocono and Carson Hocevar — embroiled in a feud with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who has vowed retaliation for recent wrecks — is third. John Hunter Nemechek is fourth and Cole Custer fifth.

Led by Hamlin, Toyota had six of the top-10 starting spots.

Pocono sellout

Pocono Raceway continued its renaissance with a third straight sellout crowd set for Sunday. The track sold out all frontstretch seating, premium seating, suites, infield camping and the grandstand camping area. It also is the fifth consecutive year that the entire infield camping inventory has been sold out.

Pocono president Ben May said the track sold about 50,000 grandstand tickets, around 2,000 suite seats and 3,300 camping spots.

NASCAR traditionally ran two NASCAR weekends at the track until 2022. The sellout streak started the next year and it was the first since 2010.

“When you look at this weekend, it’s sold out. It’s fantastic,” three-time Cup champion Joey Logano said.

NASCAR expressed at least a cursory interest in adding to its recent string of offbeat race locations — everywhere from Mexico City to a temporary track inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum — and floated the idea of holding a race inside a Philadelphia stadium, Franklin Field. The site is traditionally home to the Penn Relays and college football.

May said he wasn’t necessarily concerned another race within driving distance of the mountains — about 100 miles away — would affect Pocono.

“When you get into center city and Philly proper, it’s a stick-and-ball town,” May said. “I’m very comfortable with Pocono’s position on the schedule for a long time.”

There’s just something about country music and NASCAR, don’t you think? The two pair well with one another, like ketchup and mustard — which, coincidentally, you can get on your hot dog at the racetrack’s concession stand.

Whether racing is considered a “country” sport or not, there are plenty of country music fans who enjoy watching their favorite drivers out on the track on Sunday afternoon. Networks have picked up on this, and many use hit country tracks in their promotional video packages.

And if you’ve been out to the track to take in an event, you know it’s likely the race will feature country music playing in the stands. If you’re really lucky, it will be a country artist singing the national anthem before the first engine is revved up.

Country Music Loves NASCAR

There are quite a few country artists who are fans of the sport of racing. In addition to being a part of race day traditions, it’s not a rare thing for singers and their families to be roaming the infield or the pit area at the tracks in Nashville.

Country artists have also been given the honor of taking part in other pre-race activities, like driving the pace car, waving the checkered flag and delivering the iconic line, “Gentlemen, start your engines.”

And let’s not forget those who have graced the actual cars themselves.

Luke Combs, Bailey Zimmerman and Chris Stapleton are some of those whose names or likenesses have been used on a car’s wrap, thanks to various drivers. We’ve never seen some of these guys move so fast!

The next time you rally up the crew on race day, add these songs to your pre-race soundtrack. Some are sentimental and others are just silly, but they’re perfect for any fan!

Keep scrolling to see the best country songs about NASCAR.

LONG POND, Pa. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. might already be NASCAR’s most popular crew chief.

He’s certainly undefeated in that role.

Pressed into unexpected service, Earnhardt called the shots for 18-year-old driver Connor Zilisch in the JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet on Saturday at Pocono Raceway, where they ended up in victory lane after winning a race in NASCAR’s second-tier Xfinity Series.

“It felt good to have some input and decision-making power,” Earnhardt said. “And then helping Connor understand what our plan was so he knew when to push and what he was expected to do.”

Earnhardt — a NASCAR Hall of Famer who was voted the most popular Cup Series driver by fans 15 times from 2003-17 — made a pit stop from his day job as team owner at JR Motorsports with normal crew chief Mardy Lindley suspended one race because of a lug nut infraction earlier this month at Nashville Superspeedway.

Aside from his duties as team owner, Earnhardt also was at Pocono for his role on Amazon Prime Video’s telecast of Sunday’s top-tier Cup Series race. Earnhardt retired as a full-time Cup Series driver after the 2017 season but has raced occasionally in the Xfinity Series for his own team, most recently last September at Tennessee’s Bristol Motor Speedway.

“Lot of fun for me today,” Earnhardt said. “I missed the thrill of competition. I love broadcast, don’t get me wrong. But nothing compares to driving or just being part of the team. Being an owner doesn’t really deliver like this. This is a lot of fun.”

Earnhardt had his wife Amy and their two young daughters in tow with him as he made the celebratory walk to victory lane. Oldest daughter Isla Rose clutched the checkered flag while youngest Nicole Lorraine soaked in the scene from her dad’s arms.

“I love that they just get to experience things about NASCAR,” Earnhardt said. “I had such a great time growing up as a kid in this sport, just running around here. I want them to have that opportunity and understand that this is a place where they could create opportunities for themselves down the road.”

Earnhardt’s 26 career wins in the Cup Series included a sweep of both Pocono races in 2014, a season he started by winning the Daytona 500 for the second time.

Saturday’s success continued a banner season for Earnhardt after JR Motorsports and reigning Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier qualified for the season-opening Daytona 500 to make their Cup Series debut.

Earnhardt’s side hustle Saturday was made a bit easier with Zilisch behind the wheel. Zilisch, who turns 19 in July, raced to his second Xfinity Series victory of the season and the third of his career. He won his debut last year on the permanent road course at New York’s Watkins Glen International.

Earnhardt even pitched in during the race and tossed tires over the wall during pit stops.

“Midway through the race, man, I was feeling it,” Earnhardt said.

Zilisch took the win down to the wire and finally passed Jesse Love with five laps left in the race. Love finished second in the No. 2 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing — the same organization for which his late father won six of his record-tying seven Cup Series championships and the 1998 Daytona 500.

“Dale Jr., not too bad on the box,” Zilisch said. “Pretty cool to have him up there. Getting him a 1-for-1 win as crew chief is pretty awesome.”

Even with the victory, it just might be one-and-done on the pit box for the boss.

Said Earnhardt: “I don’t know that I see myself doing it again.”