Earnhardt ready to say goodbye
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. bounded out of the media center and was instantly swarmed by fans snapping photos and shoving Sharpies in his face. Earnhardt was tailed until he walked up the steps to another TV interview.
“Did you see him?” a man yelled as more fans arrived a few steps too late to reach NASCAR’s most popular driver.
The chance to catch him is winding down.
Earnhardt will retire Sunday, ending a career that saw him emerge from his father’s intimidating shadow and grow into NASCAR’s favorite son over 18 full seasons. Hilarious and heartfelt, his folksy charm endeared him to the millions that comprised “Junior Nation” and made him a household name to the casual fan who recognized Earnhardt simply as NASCAR’s top pitchman.
Earnhardt has one final destination on his farewell tour, at Homestead-Miami Speedway, a track which over the last two years also helped the sport bid farewell to NASCAR greats Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. His legacy will be different from theirs, and not simply because Earnhardt never won a championship as they did. If anything, he was more beloved as an ambassador of the sport than any driver of his era.
The 20-something Earnhardt that retreated into his motorhome to play video games all night has matured into a 43-year-old man that will be flanked Sunday by his pregnant wife, his mother and sister before he slides into the No. 88 Chevrolet one last time.
“There’s a whole other world out there waiting for him,” sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller said. “There’s his marriage and having a baby and doing other things in life, either professionally or personally that he hasn’t been able to do. He’ll have time for them now. It’s exciting.”
Earnhardt’s finale hit a bump Friday — he’ll start from the rear of the field because of an engine change in the Chevys. His one wish was to end the race on his terms.
“It would be a bit of a heartbreaker if we have the kind of issue that would take us out of an event and we couldn’t finish,” he said.
Earnhardt, dressed in a red T-shirt and red cap of his race sponsor, was at ease as he reflected on the end of career that started May 30, 1999, at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He finished 16th — dad was sixth — and he soon started his perpetual grip on NASCAR’s most popular driver award.