Dale Earnhardt Jr. through the years

Broadcaster. Champion driver. NASCAR historian. Hall of Famer. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has had plenty of experiences in NASCAR. Take a look at his progression through NASCAR, all the way through Friday night's Xfinity Series return at Bristol Motor Speedway.

1981: Here young Dale Jr. stands atop a camper at Richmond Raceway as his father, Dale Earnhardt, competes.

1984: Dale Earnhardt sits with his son, Dale Jr., who would one day become a 14-time NASCAR Most Popular Driver Award winner and two-time Daytona 500 victor.

1986: Twelve-year-old Dale Jr. stands with stepmom Teresa and father Dale Earnhardt in Victory Lane at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

1987: Dale Jr. poses in his military school uniform in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

1990: Dale Jr. finds himself a seat on a tire on pit road at Richmond Raceway.

1992: Dale Jr. poses with his Legends car he drove at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

1992: Dale Jr. joins his dad and brother Kerry in Victory Lane after the "Intimidator" won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

1998: Dale Jr. prepares for another race in the 1998 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series, now known as the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Junior's success in winning the points championship that year moved him up to a part-time role in the NASCAR Cup Series with Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 1999. Dale Jr. started running full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series the next year.

1999: Dale Jr. stands with his father during the IROC race at Daytona Speedweeks.

1999: Although he finished second to Jeff Gordon in the Outback Steakhouse 200 at Phoenix Raceway, Dale Jr. and his dad had plenty to celebrate, as the younger Earnhardt clinched the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship even though there was still one race remaining in the season.

2000: Dale Jr. earned his first Cup Series win in the DirecTV 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, breaking the record previously held by his father for fewest starts by a driver before earning his first victory in NASCAR's modern era, winning in just his 12th start.

2001: Dale Jr. shares a laugh with then-teammates Steve Park and Michael Waltrip at Rockingham Speedway.

2001: Dale Jr. celebrates with his crew in Daytona International Speedway's Victory Lane after winning at the same track where his father died earlier in the year.

2001: Dale Jr. also won at Talladega Superspeedway in the same year as his first Daytona International Speedway win.

2002: Dale Jr. chats with Michael Waltrip at Pocono Raceway.

2003: Dale Jr. and future Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon share a few words in the Richmond Raceway garage.

2004: Dale Jr. celebrates his first Daytona 500 win by spraying champagne in Victory Lane. Junior would go on to have the most productive season of his career, winning six races.

2004: Dale Jr. poses with his first (but not his last) Daytona 500 trophy.

2004: Dale Jr. and Kevin Harvick participate in pre-race ceremonies at Martinsville Speedway. Harvick was the one to fill the seat of the No. 3 after Dale Earnhardt's death, although the number changed to No. 29.

2004: Dale Jr. poses with the first 10-driver playoff class.

2004: Dale Jr. celebrates his sixth win of 2004 -- the most wins in a season for his NASCAR Cup Series career -- at Phoenix Raceway.

2005: Dale Jr. talks with Matt Kenseth at Phoenix Raceway. Junior and Kenseth competed against each other for the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award in 2000, with Kenseth as the eventual winner.

2007: In his 47 years, Dale Jr. has had the opportunity to meet a lot of big-name celebrities. Here's Junior meeting six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan in Charlotte, North Carolina — and Jordan would years later enter NASCAR as a team co-owner at 23XI Racing.

2007: Dale Jr. speaks to the media as he announces his move from Dale Earnhardt Inc. to Hendrick Motorsports.

2008: Dale Jr. celebrates in Daytona International Speedway's Victory Lane after winning the Budweiser Shootout for the second time.

2008: Dale Jr. celebrates his first win at Michigan International Speedway, breaking a drought of 76 races without a victory.

2010: Dale Jr. celebrates winning the first race with the new NASCAR Xfinity Series car at Daytona International Speedway, running the No. 3 Wrangler paint scheme his father made famous. It would be the last time Junior would run the No. 3 car in a national series race.

2011: Dale Jr. and crew chief Steve Letarte talk in the garage before the 2011 Daytona 500. This was Junior and Letarte's first race together. After four years as Junior's crew chief, Letarte retired from the No. 88 pit box at the end of 2014.

2012: Dale Jr., then-girlfriend Amy Reimann and the No. 88 crew celebrate in Victory Lane after Junior earns his second win at Michigan International Speedway and his first NASCAR Cup Series victory since 2008.

2013: Dale Jr. made his 500th NASCAR Cup Series start at his home track of Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Bank of America 500.

2014: Ten years after his first Daytona 500 win, Dale Jr. scored another to open the 2014 season.

2014: The selfie to start all Victory Lane selfies. Dale Jr. poses with his Daytona 500 trophy and kicks off his Twitter use on the same night.

2014: A Washington Redskins fan, Dale Jr. was all smiles when meeting the team's quarterback, Robert Griffin III. "RG3" was the pace-car driver at the Richmond Raceway event that day.

2014: Dale Jr. celebrates in Victory Lane at Pocono Raceway after earning a career-first win at the track. Another would soon come.

2014: As if a career-first win at Pocono Raceway a few months earlier wasn't enough, Dale Jr. managed to sweep the 2014 races at the "Tricky Triangle."

2014: Dale Jr. joins in with Danica Patrick, Jamie McMurray and Jimmie Johnson as then-NASCAR President Mike Helton participates in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge at Bristol Motor Speedway.

2015: Dale Jr. celebrated his first win with crew chief Greg Ives at Talladega Superspeedway in May.

2015: Dale Jr.'s trip to Germany resulted in his proposal to longtime girlfriend Amy Reimann. She said yes.

2015: The summer of 2015 produced another Daytona International Speedway victory for Dale Jr., his fourth at the track.

2015: For the inaugural throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway, Dale Jr. honored Buddy Baker's Valvoline scheme in the Southern 500.

2015: Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Jr. all made the playoff field.

2015: Though he was eliminated from the 2015 playoffs after the Round of 12, Dale Jr. snagged one more win. His third victory of the season came at Phoenix Raceway the week before the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It would be the final NASCAR Cup Series win of his career.

2016: Dale Jr. notched four runner-up showings in the first 14 races of 2016 before getting out of the car midway through the season. Not feeling right, the driver visited his doctor and was diagnosed with a concussion-like symptoms, stemming from wrecks at Michigan International Speedway and Daytona International Speedway.

2016: Dale Jr. was still smiling when he met with media members in August, his first press conference since being out of the car.

2016: What are friends for? The retired Jeff Gordon stepped in to fill races in the No. 88, along with Alex Bowman.

2017: On New Year's Eve as the calendar turned from 2016 to 2017, Dale Jr. and Amy Reimann were married.

2017: After missing the second half of the 2016 season and being cleared to return in December 2016, Dale Jr. got behind the wheel of his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet at the Daytona 500.

2017: Dale Jr. announced 2017 would be his final season of full-time competition.

2017: In what was likely his final race at Daytona International Speedway, Dale Jr. won the pole for the Coke Zero 400 -- his first pole since 2013.

2017: Dale Jr. announced he will join NBC as an analyst in 2018, joining Dale Jarrett among others on the network's broadcast team.

2017: Dale Jr. fittingly won the pole for what likely will be his final start at Talladega Superspeedway, a track synonymous with the Earnhardt name.

2017: Dale Jr. and his wife, Amy Earnhardt, receive a unique baby gift from former Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage.

2017: Dale Jr. got some experience in the booth with the FOX broadcast team for The Clash exhibition race in 2017.

2018: Dale Jr. and wife Amy Earnhardt welcomed their first daughter, Isla Rose, to the world on April 30, 2018.

2019: Making his only NASCAR start of the year, Dale Jr. started 14th and finished fifth at Darlington Raceway in his No. 8 Hellmann's Throwback Chevrolet. He had finished fourth at Richmond Raceway in his lone 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series start.

2020: Dale Jr. nearly added a new trophy to his virtual mantel, racing against Denny Hamlin for the win in the inaugural eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Junior was a weekly competitor in the series, which lasted for seven races during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020: Dale Jr. made his yearly NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Homestead-Miami Speedway in June with a fifth-place finish. The next week he found out he was going to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

2021: Earnhardt made his yearly NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Richmond Raceway in September with his two daughters and wife Amy alongside him. This year, marked his fourth season in the booth and saw him do play-by-play for a handful of NASCAR Xfinity Series races.

2022: Hang on, Isla!

2022: It was fitting wife Amy helped induct her husband, Dale Jr., into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Junior gave a speech that brought smiles and tears alike as the NASCAR community celebrated his incredible contributions to the sport.

2023: Fittingly, the fan favorite Earnhardt Jr. was selected to be among the 25 new additions to the sport's Greatest Drivers list in April 2023. A prominent career on and off the track helped earn him Hall of Fame honors, but it was Junior's decorated, successful driving career that landed him among the sport's greats, including his dad.

2023: Earnhardt Jr. returned to the cockpit of his No. 88 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sept. 15 with a dazzling performance. At age 48, the two-time series champ led 47 laps and was running inside the top five in the late laps before an in-car fire eliminated him from the race. He was still able to celebrate, though, as JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier drove Dale to Victory Lane.