Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Retire following 2017 Season

Dale Earnhardt Jr. gives a statement announcing his retirement from NASCAR after the 2017 season at the Hendrick Motorsports Team Center on April 25, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Photo – Mike Comer/Getty Images

Dale Earnhardt Jr. today announced that he will retire following the 2017 NASCAR season.

This morning, NASCAR’s 14-time Most Popular Driver broke the news to his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports race team, followed shortly thereafter by a press release from Hendrick Motorsports to publicly announce the retirement. According to the release, Earnhardt and team owner Rick Hendrick first met about the driver’s decision on March 29. Continue reading

There’s Irony in Gordon Driving the No. 88 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Photo - Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Photo – Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Long time NASCAR fans will recall the intense rivalry between those supporting Dale Earnhardt Jr and those supporting Jeff Gordon during the early first decade of this century. And the word ‘intense’ is exactly what it was, as fans literally hated each other on race day, often chiding one another at the track.

Actually, the rivalry dates back to the mid 90’s in the last century, when Jeff Gordon began his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career. Gordon was the polished, young, up-and-coming star, up-staging NASCAR’s seven-time Cup series champion, Dale Earnhardt. The rivalry continued past the super star’s death in 2001 at Daytona with his son’s up-and-coming career just beginning.  Continue reading