Earnhardt, Jr. Adds Florence CARS Tour Event to Schedule, Sammy Smith to Run North Wilkesboro

One day after learning Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will compete with the zMAX CARS Tour this weekend at New River All American Speedway, we know when his next appearance in the Late Model Stock Series will take place.

RELATED: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Joining CARS Tour Field at New River All American Speedway

JR Motorsports announced on Tuesday morning that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will drive his iconic SunDrop No. 3 at Florence Motor Speedway when the CARS Tour visits on August 30. They also announced that Sammy Smith, who drives for the team in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, will compete in the CARS Tour event at North Wilkesboro Speedway on May 15, also with support from SunDrop.

Florence is a very familiar track for Earnhardt, Jr., one of the places he cut his teeth in Late Model racing before climbing the NASCAR ladder. Since he retired from full-time NASCAR competition, the NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee has also competed in several Late Model Stock events at Florence.

Most recently, Earnhardt, Jr. finished fourth in the 2024 IceBreaker at Florence, won by JR Motorsports driver Carson Kvapil.

RELATED: Carson Kvapil Earns Impressive Fourth-Place Result in Xfinity Debut at Martinsville

Smith boasts six top-five finishes in 10 career zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock appearances, with a best finish of second at Orange County Speedway in 2019. The Iowa driver won the Super Late Model portion of the Racetrack Revival at North Wilkesboro in 2022 and finished fourth in the ASA STARS National Tour's visit to North Wilkesboro last year.

Smith is currently ninth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series standings for JR Motorsports, with five top-10 finishes in seven races to start the 2024 season.

-Photo credit: Will Bellamy, Racing America