Dale Earnhardt Jr. has announced that he will be retiring from full-time NASCAR racing in the Cup Series after the 2017 season at a press conference April 25.
Earnhardt and car owner Rick Hendrick, whom he has driven with since 2008, first had a discussion about the driver’s decision March 29.
“I just wanted the opportunity to go out on my own terms,” he said. “I wanted to honor my commitment to Rick, to my sponsors, to my team, and to the fans. I’ll admit that having influence over my exit only became meaningful when it started to seem most unlikely.”
Earnhardt isn’t retiring from NASCAR completely. He still plans to run two Xfinity Series races in 2018 with his own team, JR Motorsports, and has been considering about racing at small tracks in his local North Carolina area.
“Dale Earnhardt Jr. is among the most recognized athletes in the world, unequivocally serving as the sport’s most popular driver for more than a decade,” NASCAR chairman Brian France said in a statement. “His passion for the sport will leave an impact on NASCAR that will be felt over its entire history. Over his 20-plus career, Dale has proven himself a leader with a deep commitment to so many areas of the sport – all the way to its roots.”
The 42-year-old has raced 18 seasons in NASCAR’s top Cup Series and has a total of 26 career wins, including two Daytona 500 victories, but has never won a championship. His best finish in the season standings was third in 2003. He has, however, won two championships in what is now called the Xfinity Series.
Last year, Earnhardt had to take a leave of absence after he suffered a concussion, causing him to miss the last 18 races of the season. In 2012, he missed two races after getting two concussions in a span of six weeks.
To many of the sport’s fans, Earnhardt is the last connection to the generation of drivers that was led by his father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., known as “The Intimidator.” Sr. won seven Cup Series championships before his life ended after a crash in the 2001 Daytona 500.
“I knew that growing up in that man’s shadow was going to be a hard challenge,” Earnhardt said. “But I wanted to race, and I knew racing would put me in that shadow. All I wanted to do was be able to make a living driving cars.”
Jeffrey Earnhardt, the son of Dale Earnhardt Sr. and the nephew of Earnhardt Jr., will be the only remaining member of the family to continue racing in the Cup Series.
“It’s going to be interesting,” he said. “I don’t think I could ever fill my grandfather’s shoes. I don’t think I could ever fill [Earnhardt Jr.’s] shoes. My goal is for myself to try and just keep improving as a driver and hopefully be able to keep our legacy alive and hopefully have Earnhardt fans accept me.”
Recently, NASCAR has been declining in ratings and attendance in recent years and the retirement of some of the sport’s greatest stars could be a factor. Three-time Cup champion Tony Stewart exited the sport at the end of last season, four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon retired in 2015 to later work as an announcer for Fox Sports, and Carl Edwards, who finished second in the championship standings twice, announced that he was stepping away from the sport before the start of this year’s season to pursue other opportunities. Brian France, the chairman and CEO of NASCAR said that multiple drivers leaving the sport isn’t unusual.
“If you look back at our history, we always tend to see drivers in waves move in one direction so it’s not uncommon to have three, four or five of your top drivers exit for different reasons in a short period of time, two years, whatever it is,” he said in a press conference prior to a race at Richmond.
As some of the most talented drivers leave the sport, rising stars are having the spotlight set on them. Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott are among the top five in the Cup Series standings and have been praised by many of the sport’s new fans and other drivers.
