HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — Grab yourself an ice cold Sun Drop, because Dale Earnhardt Jr. is coming to the 16th annual Hampton Heat at Langley Speedway.
The 49-year-old NASCAR icon will join the field in Hampton on July 20. It will be his first ever race at Langley.
And he’ll be driving a No. 3 car that both pays homage to his late father, and throws it back to his early racing days.
Tickets are currently on sale for the event at Langley Speedway’s website at $10 for kids and $20 for adults. There are also senior, military and group discounts. Langley’s track holds about 9,000 fans.
Earnhardt, who retired from full-time racing in 2017, still competes sparingly in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series (he’ll be at Bristol later this year) and in late model racing like you’ll find at Langley.
He’s also done a lot in recent years to promote smaller tracks like Langley, and was a key figure in the rehabilitation of the once-abandoned North Wilkesboro Speedway (the site of the 2024 and 2025 NASCAR All-Star races).
Meanwhile last year’s Hampton Heat was won by Chesapeake’s Brenden “Butterbean” Queen, who just recently made his NASCAR Truck Series debut. Another former Hampton Heat champion, Hampton’s Connor Hall, also just won the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division 1 national championship last year.