Earnhardt. Jr. announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2017 NASCAR season in November at a press conference on Tuesday (April 25), NASCAR.com reports. He was darn good at it, but Junior is better. "He'll be heavily involved in the sport".
Amy Earnhardt tweeted: "I'm so proud of Dale for working so hard to get back and even prouder for his courage and self awareness to make the decision to retire".
"It was hard to watch all that happen knowing that I had an effect on that", Earnhardt said.
"I think he's done really well to do what he's done".
Now he must wait for Nationwide to make a decision on what it wants to do. From Hendrick Motorsports this afternoon.
"I was a bit surprised", said Bristol Motor Speedway General Manager Jerry Caldwell. I see with Rick that it's a full-time job and I have to tell him to relax. What about the list of drivers who are not now under contract for the 2018 season?
For NASCAR, it is more disgusting news.
Earnhardt struggled in his first three seasons at Hendrick, winning just one race.
"All those guys have great attitudes, great personalities", Earnhardt said.
"At a very young age, all I wanted to do was to be able to make a living driving cars", the younger Earnhardt said.
"I do have ambition to work", Earnhardt said. "I don't want to quit working". There's a feeling to being an asset to something. I like making people happy. I think he's exactly right.
The third-generation NASCAR superstar has always been a fan favorite. Unless there's an epic turnaround in race results, he won't deliver the series title he and Hendrick wanted so much to win together. "He believed in me", Earnhardt Jr. said. "I'm so blessed and fortunate as far as what I was able to achieve". "He was a breath of fresh air when we really needed it". We've had some odd luck, but when the luck's been there, the results have been there. I know them well enough to be excited about how fans are going to know them in the future.
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But Earnhardt is 42, and last season brought back memories of his father's fall before the finish line.
Elliott Sadler drives for Earnhardt's team and calls him friend.
"You deserve everything, all the awards and all of the accolades", Hendrick said. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was a proud southern hero who was not afraid to speak out on controversial issues.
Earnhardt has driven for Hendrick since 2008 after a nasty split with Dale Earnhardt Inc., the team founded by his late father but run by his stepmother.
In the 23-year-old Earnhardt Jr., Budweiser has teamed with one of NASCAR's most promising young drivers. But if he was a stock-car racing hipster, he was an old soul, too - well-schooled in great racers of old, with respect for NASCAR's storied racetracks, a deep love of the grease and high-octane gas that made 800-horsepower engines go and an unabashed affection for the sport's fans.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he is retiring at the end of the season because he "wanted the opportunity to go out on (his) own terms". "The opportunity to announce my choice rather than some fate that was decided for me".
"I was pretty sick at one point, and I didn't think I was going to get to race again", Earnhardt said of his concussion a year ago. "There's a lot about it I really love".
Sidelined for the last half of the season, Earnhardt worked diligently to recover and won approval from doctors to return to racing before the season-opening Daytona 500.
"To my fans one thing that has this career its incredible ride it has been has been Junior Nation", Earnhardt said.
"He'll be missed", said Leonard Reimer, a big racing fan. He is still under contract with Hendrick Motorsports. In his first race at Daytona following his dads death, Junior scored an emotional win, but it was his victory at the 2004 Daytona 500 that was his crowning moment, and he owed it to his father.
Earnhardt is a two-time champion in NASCAR's second-tier series. I've already heard some of it: "He never won a championship". He missed two races in 2012 because of two concussions in a six-week stretch.
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