Preview: Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Daytona – Nascar

RELATED: Appreci88ion for fans prevalent in Junior’s final season

For his final full-time season as a driver, NASCAR.com will offer an analytical preview on Dale Earnhardt Jr. ahead of every remaining Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.

Race: Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway

Date: Saturday, July 1, 7:30 p.m. ET (NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Previous five results at Daytona: 37th, 21st, 36th, 1st, 3rd

RELATED: See every Dale Jr. win in the sport’s top series

Notable: Dale Earnhardt Jr. has four wins at Daytona International Speedway, with two coming in his last seven starts — one at the Daytona 500 (2014) and one at the Coke Zero 400 (2015). Junior has 13 top-five finishes at Daytona and an average finish of 14.3. Two of his last three starts at Daytona have ended with wrecks.

Memorable moment: Probably the most iconic win of Dale Jr.’s career came at Daytona in July 2001. With NASCAR still reeling from the death of his father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., on the last lap of the Daytona 500, his namesake son led 116 laps and captured his first win at the track in just his fourth start there.

Quotable: “I have great memories at all of these tracks, Daytona included,” Earnhardt Jr. said in a team release. “I am going to be coming back to these tracks whether I’m driving or not, and I want to continue to be part of the sport. It’s hard for me to put into words what it being my last Cup race at Daytona might feel like because I don’t know what that is going to feel like, and you never say never. Our whole idea on finishing up the season is to try to show our appreciation and express that to our fans and everyone in the industry on making this an incredibly enjoyable ride.”