Dale Earnhardt Jr. has decided to retire after the 2017 season. Following the footsteps of his father, a legendary NASCAR driver, Earnhardt will likely be retiring with a Hall of Fame career. He’s had 26 wins in 603 races, with two of those wins happening to be at Daytona 500.
Earnhardt’s contract with Hendrick Motorsports expires at the end of this season. He’d previously discussed a possible contract extension after suffering a concussion last season that caused him to miss 18 races. Just last month he’d reportedly stated his plans to sit down and talking with Rick Hendrick about a longer term, but as of Tuesday morning, it appears those plans have changed.
So far this season, he has one top-ten finish in eight races and is ranked at only 24th overall. Hendrick Motorsports has not yet announced a replacement for Earnhardt now that he’s officially chosen to retire. Earnhardt has raced with the team since 2007 when he left his father’s team after his stepmother Teresa refused to give him partial ownership of his father’s team.
For the first three seasons with Hendrick, Earnhardt had a hard time adjusting with just one win in those three years. Things started to look up after 2011 with the new crew chief Steve Letarte, because even though he didn’t win a race that season, he finished seventh in points and his career started to pick up again after that.
Earnhardt’s most notable season throughout his career was probably before this time with Hendrick though, during the 2001 season after his father, Dale Earnhardt, died during the final lap of the Daytona 500. For his father, Earnhardt Jr. won two races that season. One was in July at Daytona and the other was a very emotional race at Dover, which was the first NASCAR race after 9/11.
NASCAR will be losing an iconic racer with Earnhardt’s retirement, not just in the races themselves, but also in the general face of the sport. Earnhardt is one of the top drivers for merchandising. He also owns a team in the Xfinity Series, which is co-run by Hendrick and his sister Kelly Earnhardt Miller. Earnhardt himself has won two titles in the Xfinity Series back when he was racing for his father in 1998 and 1999.
The decision to retire was likely based on not only the injuries he suffered last season, but also in considering his family life. In 2015, he proposed to his girlfriend during a trip to Germany. The two married later that year on New Year’s Eve.
“I think about winning the All-Star races as a rookie, just how fortunate we were to do that. Winning the Daytona 500 twice,” Earnhardt said when reflecting on his career.
“I didn’t know that I would even win it once and everything that has happened. … I would have never thought it would have been as good as it has been or as fun as it has been along the way. I have made so many good friends.”
It was after his 600th start that Earnhardt gave his perspective on his overall career, which might have been a tip to the star’s consideration for retirement. Fans will be sad to see this as his last season, but being he’s 42 and has had quite a full and successful career as a NASCAR driver, they can’t complain that the years he did spend racing weren’t one hell of a ride.
Featured Image via Wikimedia
