Dale Earnhardt Jr to retire following the 2017 season

[Chewbaccer]

Saw this coming.

Within a few years, Kenseth, Harvick and Johnson will likely be retiring as well.

And a couple year after that, you'll see Kasey Kahne, Clint Bowyer and Kurt Busch retiring.

NASCAR will be fine. There hasn't be a better crop of young talent in a LONG time. Probably not since Kenseth, Harvick, Jr, Kurt Busch, Johnson and Newman in the early 2000's.

Larson, Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Eric Jones are already in the Cup series, and there's a slew of them in the Busch Series waiting for their chance.

 

[wildturkey]

Idk, I could honestly see him walking away from the sport for good in a few years. His actions here lately seem to indicate he would be just as happy to ride off in to the sunset and never step foot at a racetrack ever again.

Not a chance. He bleeds this stuff. A good chunk of his estate is basically a museum of the sport. He's constantly getting old cars, driver's suits, race programs, and stuff to collect. He'll definitely be around. He just knows he can't drive any more. That's why I said last summer when the accident happened that I wouldn't be shocked at all if he quit within a year or two. He's a smart guy, has lot of life left in him, and takes the concussion stuff very seriously so that's all there is to it. But he loves the sport too much to just up and leave.

Also, you're totally kidding yourself if you don't see this as a massive blow to NASCAR. Gordon and Junior have been propping them up for years. Tons of fans were putting up with NASCAR's garbage changes out of pure fan loyalty. When Gordon quit, sales dropped and ratings dove like 10% or more (they've been trending down a lot but they spiked when the 24 left). Junior is more popular than Gordon so you bet your ass there's gonna be an even bigger spike. They better promote the hell out of Larson/Elliott/Blaney while all the fans are turning into the Junior Farewell Tour ratings boost and hope they stick. And its not even just about that, in losing Junior (and Gordon), they've lost the only two people that had crossover appeal. Without them, NASCAR is just a niche that never gets mentioned.

 

[Gopherfan84]

Whew, the rumor mill is churning hard today. I've seen Larson and Edwards to the 88 next season.

Edwards has said that if he came back it'd only be as a Gibbs goon again, and Larson would have to reportedly get his release from Ganassi to be able to sign with Hendrick which I don't think is likely.

I think it's more likely to be a young, up and coming talent like Bowman (though being without a ride this season will hurt his chances).

If Hendrick wants a veteran to fill the seat, I think Keselowski is the runaway favorite. He's a free agent at the end of the season along with his crew chief and primary sponsor (both of whom he has a great relationship with). Plus, Keselowski has the history from when he was first coming up with Jr. and Hendrick and Rick said that he wouldn't let Brad get far away when he signed with Penske.

As for Jr., I was saying last fall that if he got clearance to drive again he should announce that he was running the Daytona 500 this season and then hanging it up. He'll be around as a team owner, but it's still going to be a massive loss for the sport which was already in trouble. Most of the established stars are too polarizing for a lot of the fans to gather behind, and while some of the youngsters have some talent they don't have the pull to put seats in the seats and eyes on the TV. The biggest name is Chase, and I sense he lacks the killer instinct to win big in the Cup series.

 

[jeffro151]

Not a chance. He bleeds this stuff. A good chunk of his estate is basically a museum of the sport. He's constantly getting old cars, driver's suits, race programs, and stuff to collect. He'll definitely be around. He just knows he can't drive any more. That's why I said last summer when the accident happened that I wouldn't be shocked at all if he quit within a year or two. He's a smart guy, has lot of life left in him, and takes the concussion stuff very seriously so that's all there is to it. But he loves the sport too much to just up and leave.

Also, you're totally kidding yourself if you don't see this as a massive blow to NASCAR. Gordon and Junior have been propping them up for years. Tons of fans were putting up with NASCAR's garbage changes out of pure fan loyalty. When Gordon quit, sales dropped and ratings dove like 10% or more (they've been trending down a lot but they spiked when the 24 left). Junior is more popular than Gordon so you bet your ass there's gonna be an even bigger spike. They better promote the hell out of Larson/Elliott/Blaney while all the fans are turning into the Junior Farewell Tour ratings boost and hope they stick. And its not even just about that, in losing Junior (and Gordon), they've lost the only two people that had crossover appeal. Without them, NASCAR is just a niche that never gets mentioned.

Yeah, he bleeds the sport, but how many folks seen him ever settling down and getting married? Very few. He is going to do things how he wants to.

Yes, this is a blow to Nascar. So was Sr's death. The sport will survive.

 

[Retroram52]

These guys are getting married and retiring. What the? Actually, he has a boatload of cash, he is an owner, and he doesn't need this trash as a driver anymore apparently. The sport is turning over again and many of the guys that were the regs are moving on. We shall see who emerges.

 

[jeffro151]

These guys are getting married and retiring. What the? Actually, he has a boatload of cash, he is an owner, and he doesn't need this trash as a driver anymore apparently. The sport is turning over again and many of the guys that were the regs are moving on. We shall see who emerges.

Exactly. The writing has been on the wall for quite some time now. We went so long with drivers being able to drive up until they were in their late 40's and early 50's. That isn't the case anymore. Teams now have the opportunity to groom drivers from when they reach 14-16 years old. Nascar is starting to become a young man's sport.
The average age of the starting lineup for this weekend's race at Richmond will be 30.7 years old. Rewind to this same race in 2013, the average age of the starting lineup was 35.3 years old. With the amount of young talent sitting in the Xfinity series (Byron, Hemric, Poole, Tifft, Custer, Jones) and Truck series (Bell, Gragson) waiting to be brought up, the average age of the Cup series is only going to get younger.

 

[Krusheasy]

i dont get this move ...

Nascar is the one sport you can compete into your 60s

did he not love to race ?

 

[4down20]

i dont get this move ...

Nascar is the one sport you can compete into your 60s

did he not love to race ?

He's rich and doesn't want to finish his racing career the same way his dad did is my guess.

 

[pitman]

As everyone else did, I also saw this coming. It's time, he has not been very competitive the last few years, and all the concussions, and now a new wife. I don't think he needs any more money, I would imagine he has all he needs.

As far as who steps into the 88, my first thought would be Byron, I think he drives for Jr Motorsports now.
Larson is pretty dedicated to the 42 team, because when all the other teams wanted money, Chip took a chance on him and his talent. Plus Kyle wants to run a Indy 500 some day.

And for all you Earnhardt fans, give it about three years and Kelly's daughter Karsyn Elledge will be in NASCAR. We have raced with her for the last 4-5 years, she is a pretty good little racer.

 

[Schmoopy1000]

why should Dale start a race team? With all his popularity, instead of spending a ton of money & time to make money, he can simply start his own Nascar show & it would be an instant hit. Then he can do what he enjoys. Researching Nascar & their history.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

i dont get this move ...

Nascar is the one sport you can compete into your 60s

did he not love to race ?

Probably a lot of it had to do with all of those concussions he's suffered. He had a lot of time to think during that period and realized that he had plenty of money to fall back on and wanted to keep his health in check as much as possible. I'm sure NASCAR is okay with this because they can market this as the farewell season like they did the previous couple years with Gordon and Stewart and get more people to come to the track.