Don’t expect to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour entry at New Hampshire, or anywhere else, moving forward.

In a press conference Friday afternoon, Earnhardt quickly shot down any possibility of ground pounder racing once he wraps up his final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

“I don’t think so,” Earnhardt said. “I’m retiring from Cup driving, so I don’t think I’m gonna be surprising anybody by showing up to any of those other races.”

“I talked to LW [Miller] a little bit about it… I talked with [Ryan] Newman about it. Modified guys are certainly a different breed, and I don’t know if I’m cut from that cloth or that mold.”

Earnhardt is competing in his final race at New Hampshire as a full-time Cup driver this weekend. The driver of the No. 88 has eight top-5s and 15 top-10s in 34 career starts at the Magic Mile.

While he has no interest in turning a lap in a Tour Modified, Earnhardt does appreciate how much the discipline means to fans in the Northeast.

“I marvel at the cars and the way they race and how hard they race,” he said. “I’ve never had much interest in driving one, but I certainly enjoy watching those guys race.”

“I’ve come to admire a lot of the guys who have raced in Modifieds, all up and down the East Coast, there’s a lot of legends.”

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