Retired Earnhardt feels ‘weird,’ but he’s ready to help kids
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been retired only a handful of days and already he notices something different.
“I feel weird,” Earnhardt told USA Today Sports.
“I don’t know what retirement is supposed to feel like. Maybe I’m having separation anxiety because I feel the constant urge to text all my crew, but I’ve been enjoying doing nothing. I’m very excited to see what the next chapter in my life will be.”
The “what’s next” already includes the upcoming birth of a daughter, overseeing his NASCAR Xfinity Series team and his analyst role with NBC next season. On Tuesday, Earnhardt and his wife, Amy, announced another role: the creation of the Dale and Amy Earnhardt Fund to benefit Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
An activity room at Nationwide Children’s Hospital was dedicated to the Earnhardt’s earlier this year, located in the rehabilitation unit in the hospital that treats chronically ill children. Earnhardt has visited the hospital several times since 2014, a relationship bolstered by longtime Earnhardt sponsor Nationwide Insurance.
“My work with Nationwide (Insurance) is responsible for my relationship with the hospital,” Earnhardt said. “They introduced me to the place and I got to see a lot of the incredible things happening there and that they were very impactful to the lives of so many children.”
One of those children is Maddie Delaney, an 11-year-old diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age 2. Earnhardt first met Maddie three years ago during one his first visits to Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her name was featured on Earnhardt’s Nationwide Insurance No. 88 Hendrick Motorsport Chevrolet and she attended a race at Kentucky Speedway in July.
“I think Dale and Amy are two of the most caring people I have met,” Nickole Delaney, Maddie’s mother, said. “They are both selfless and care for all the children in the hospital. They are two of the most special people to enter my daughter’s life and they’ve spent so much time with her since they first met and that relationship is still going strong. They have changed her life for the better.”
Amy Earnhardt said while the commitment to the hospital won’t change when the couple’s daughter is born this spring, their bond with the children at the hospital could grow stronger when they become parents.
“We aren’t going to know how much until we have the baby,” said Amy, who is due in May.
The Dale Jr. Foundation — which is making an initial donation of $88,888.88 to the new fund — has raised more than $4.2 million since it was launched a decade ago and the focus of the foundation has always been on improving the lives of children, including the Make-AWish Foundation.
“The first time he set foot in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) and saw babies who were born that weren’t much bigger than a pop can,” said Jim McCoy, Nationwide Insurance’s director of sports marketing. “He was very inquisitive and asking the doctors a lot of questions. His level of excitement to be a dad in the next phase of his life is really good to see. I think the hospital and his relationship with it will become even greater because of where he is personally.”
Nationwide Insurance is holding an APPRECI88ION event at The Cosmopolitan hotel-casino in Las Vegas on Tuesday night, part of NASCAR’s Champion’s Week celebration. The event will serve as the kickoff of the Dale and Amy Earnhardt Fund.
“Every red cent we raise is going to go to this good cause,” Earnhardt said. “This is the first of our real big initiatives and we wanted to make sure the hospital gets every dime that we raise.”
The week’s festivities conclude with Thursday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards, where Earnhardt is up for his 15th consecutive most popular driver award.