Dale Earnhardt Jr. announces he’ll retire after 2017 season

Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR’s 14-time most popular driver, is retiring as a full-time driver at the end of the current 2017 Monster Energy Cup Series season, Hendrick Motorsports announced Tuesday.

The 42-year-old Earnhardt made that decision on March 29 and shared the news with team owner Rick Hendrick that same day. Having come back from a concussion that caused him to miss the entire second half of the 2016 season (18 races), Earnhardt thought it was important he make the decision himself to retire rather than be forced out of the car for reasons outside his control.

Prior to the season, Earnhardt said he wanted to wait a few months before deciding whether to continue driving past the 2017 season. His contract with Hendrick Motorsports, which he’s driven for since 2008, was set to expire at the end of the year.

“I just wanted the opportunity to go out on my own terms,” Earnhardt said during a press conference Tuesday. “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.

“I wanted to be able to make that decision myself on retiring and not really have it made for me. But I feel healthy.”

Earnhardt began experiencing concussion-like symptoms shortly after crashing at Michigan International Speedway on June 12. Those symptoms included pressure buildup inside his head, a loss of balance, and nausea, which he thought was brought upon by either a sinus infection or allergies. However, he continued to compete through the July 9 race at Kentucky Speedway before removing himself from the car.

After undergoing a strenuous rehabilitation program, Earnhardt was cleared to return to competition in early December. He has started all eight Cup races this season with a best finish of fifth at Texas Motor Speedway —- 11 days after deciding he would retire.

“During my rehabilitation, I was given something that I wasn’t accustomed to, and that was time,” Earnhardt said. “Time to understand what’s important to me, time to realize the incredible support system I have.”

Few drivers are as attuned to head injuries and the long-term risks than Earnhardt, who masked a concussion in 2002 for months out of fear he would not be permitted to continue racing. But following two concussions within a six-week span in 2012, Earnhardt went public with the diagnosis, taking himself out of the car for two races and becoming a leading proponent of improving ways to better protect drivers.

Just months after Earnhardt disclosed he had previously masked a head injury, NASCAR began requiring drivers to undergo Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) to establish a baseline so doctors could determine any potential changes in the event of a hard crash. If the two results don’t match, drivers are placed in NASCAR’s concussion protocol program and cannot return until given clearance by a neurosurgeon with at least five years of experience treating sports-related head injuries.

“I was pretty sick at one point [last year], and I didn’t think I was going to get to race again,” Earnhardt said. “None of us were very confident that I would get to race again.”

Earnhardt’s upcoming departure leaves a deep void within NASCAR, as his retirement follows similar decisions by Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, and Tony Stewart. Along with Earnhardt, these three were some of the sport’s marquee stars, with each making significant contributions that helped NASCAR enter the national lexicon and, at one time during the mid-2000s, push television ratings that rivaled the NFL.

“Dale Earnhardt Jr. is among the most recognizable athletes in the world, unequivocally serving as the sport’s most popular driver for more than a decade,” NASCAR CEO and chairman Brian France said. “His passion for the sport will leave an impact on NASCAR that will be felt over its entire history. Over his 20-plus year career, Dale has proven himself a leader with a deep commitment to so many areas of the sport — all the way to its roots.”

As the son of seven-time Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt, Earnhardt Jr. entered NASCAR’s top division in 2000 with great fanfare and expectations that he would obtain the same level of success. Although the younger Earnhardt has never won a championship — his best points finish was third entering 2017 — he has won 26 career races and emerged as one of the sport’s most popular figures. His victory total includes two wins at the Daytona 500, NASCAR’s signature event.

“I just saw even at an early age before I was a driver, that growing up in that man’s shadow was going to be a really hard challenge,” Earnhardt said. “But I wanted to race. … So at a very young age all I wanted to do was be able to make a living driving cars. I didn’t set goals. I didn’t dream of winning championships or Daytona 500s or working with one of the best owners in the business driving for one of the best organizations. I just wanted to do it.

“I accomplished way more than I’ve ever dreamed. Way more than I ever thought I’d accomplish. I’m good on that front.”

Earnhardt’s easygoing personality and genuineness has earned him great admiration from competitors and fans alike, as did the public way he handled the death of his father, who was killed on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. He won 14 Most Popular Driver awards as voted by fans, from 2003-2016.

“One thing that’s made this career the incredible ride that it’s been is Junior Nation,” Earnhardt said. “The fan support that I received straight out of the gate was in large part because of my famous last name, but throughout the ups and downs it occurred to me that the fans that stuck it out and the new ones that joined us, they were there because of the person I was and not who they wanted me to be.

“I don’t think that anything in my professional career has meant more to me than the treatment that I’ve received from track to track by the fans that so dearly love our sport.”

Earnhardt isn’t retiring completely. He said he will drive two Xfinity Series races in 2018 for JR Motorsports, the team he co-owns with his sister, Kelley Earnhardt Miller, and Hendrick, and is open to the possibility of racing at small tracks in the North Carolina area, even joking that he told his wife he may slip out of the house to go race at Hickory Speedway.

Earnhardt will also remain heavily involved in running JRM, which fields four full-time Xfinity teams and a fifth car part-time. In recent seasons he’s taken an active role in providing opportunities with JRM for emerging drivers, crew chiefs, and other personnel. His current Cup crew chief, Greg Ives, got his first chance to lead a team as crew chief for JRM before being promoted to his present role.

“That’s really so rewarding to me — really even greater than the wins, is to see somebody get a job somewhere on the Cup level, getting an opportunity to step up,” Earnhardt said. “I feel like we’re doing it right and giving people that platform, that springboard. I really enjoy that.”

Recently married, Earnhardt and his wife, Amy, have spoken openly about wanting to start a family. Amy, Earnhardt’s sister, and brother-in-law were among those in attendance during Tuesday’s press conference at Hendrick Motorsports’ headquarters in Concord, N.C.

Hendrick Motorsports will announce Earnhardt’s replacement for the 2018 season at a later date.

“We’ve got a lot of people to consider being partners, like our sponsors,” Rick Hendrick said. “We’ve just been talking to them. Priority one is to get everything prepared and get the day over with, and we’ll take time to decide what we do then.”