Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t know what his post-driving career will entail, but he does know that he wants to model it after NASCAR Hall of Famer driver Benny Parsons, who continued to have a significant impact as a popular television analyst.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. interested in TV role after NASCAR retirement
The impact Benny Parsons had on NASCAR after his driving career ended is what Dale Earnhardt Jr. would like to replicate.
Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images
Wanting to retire on his own terms and not because of health reasons stemming from the concussion-like symptoms that caused him to miss 18 races in 2016, Earnhardt announced Tuesday he would step aside as full-time Monster Energy Cup Series driver at the end of the current season.
Because he kept the news within his inner circle, Earnhardt hasn’t had discussions with NASCAR’s television partners, Fox Sports and NBC Sports, about a potential future role on their respective broadcast teams. NASCAR’s 14-time most popular driver dabbled in broadcasting last season, serving as a guest race analyst for FOX on its Xfinity Series coverage and two Cup races on NBC during the fall while sidelined.
“Obviously, I enjoyed my fun in the booth,” Earnhardt said Friday at Richmond International Raceway. “If that’s an opportunity for me, I’m certainly going to have those conversations to find out. But I haven’t been able to really talk to anybody and even try to sort that out because I couldn’t communicate to anyone, ‘Man, I’m going to retire so can we talk about XY and Z, and do you think this is something I can do?’
“But now I can have those conversations with the people that I really trust.”
Earnhardt specially mentioned Parsons as someone he would like to emulate. Parsons, who died in 2007, won the 1973 Cup championship and 21 races in a career that earned him induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in January. But many remember the congenial and gregarious former driver for his work as a longtime television analyst during an era when NASCAR’s popularity boomed.
It’s having a similar kind of impact as Parsons that Earnhardt wishes to replicate.
“I want to stay busy. I want to work,” he said. “One of the people that I really respected a lot was Benny Parsons. I thought that he left as important of a mark outside the car as he did inside the car. Whatever mark I can leave, I would love to be able to be as big an asset to the sport as I can be beyond driving.
“I’d love to still be helpful and do whatever I can to help the sport. I love being around it and being a part of it and I love racing. I love watching racing.”
Although he doesn’t know exactly in what form, Earnhardt is adamant that he will remain a presence within the sport through a variety of avenues. He will continue to be involved with JR Motorsports, the Xfinity Series team he co-owns with his Cup Series team owner, Rick Hendrick, and his sister, Kelley Earnhardt Miller.
Hendrick said on Tuesday he would like Earnhardt to have an undetermined role within his four-team, something Earnhardt is open to.
“Rick has told me he wants me to be involved in HMS,” Earnhardt said. “I don’t know what that means, but I want to be a part of racing. Whatever he wants me to do, I’m certainly open to sitting down and seeing how I can be useful.”
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