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HOMESTEAD, Fla. – After all the hugs and handshakes, well wishes and heartfelt thank yous, the only thing left for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to do was climb in his No. 88 Chevrolet, fire the engine and begin his final start as a full-time competitor in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway signaled the end of more than just a driver’s career, it signaled the end of an era of sorts as well.
The record will show that Earnhardt finished 25th, two laps down and never quite in contention at the 1.5-mile track in south Florida.
But the disappointment of his final finish with crew chief Greg Ives and crew won’t last, he said. He’ll look back fondly on the day, thanks in part to a big reminder located nearby.
“I’m going to keep the car so I’ll always be reminded about how the race went,” Earnhardt said shortly after sharing a hug with Hendrick Motorsports team owner Rick Hendrick.
“I’ll never forget being with my crew before the race and right now. I’ll never forget shaking all the over-the-wall guys and crewmen’s hands on pit road. That meant a lot to me to be able to shake their hands because I have so much respect for everybody in the garage and the commitment it takes to work in that garage is very difficult.”
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Crew members from all the teams in Sunday’s field greeted the 43-year-old as he rolled off pit road prior to the start of the race.
No less memorable, he said, was the fact that former teammate and good friend Martin Truex Jr. won the race and the series championship
“I ran into (him) with my car so I would have marks on it and would remind me of Martin,” Earnhardt said of the side-by-side contact on the cool-down lap. “I think I wasn’t the only one that hit him though.”
Earnhardt is stepping aside but is scheduled to compete in select XFINITY Series races next season. He will continue to be a co-owner of JR Motorsports along with sister Kelly Earnhardt Miller and Hendrick, and he will do television work with NBC next season, as well.
He wasn’t one of the Championship 4 contenders – Earnhardt had missed qualifying for the playoffs for the second time in as many years – but in the eyes of many, Sunday’s season-ending race was as much about what he has meant to the sport as it was the battle for the 2017 title.
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Earnhardt qualified 24th for his final start, and paced the field for one “honorary” pace lap before dropping to the rear for an engine change made by the team on Friday.
An early caution sent him to pit road and he lost much of the track position he had gained but the trade-off was fresh tires and a few adjustments to his car.
But by Lap 56 he was a lap down in 20th; he later brushed the wall, and 130 laps into the 267-lap race found him two laps behind the leader.
The throng surrounding the car once he pulled onto pit road afterward couldn’t have been any bigger had he won the event.
Earnhardt was on social media early on race day, giving his followers something of a “good morning” when he posted via Twitter.
Woke up at 6. Made a pb&j and went back to bed. Woke up for good at 930. This is gonna be a weird day.
– Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) November 19, 2017
The son of seven-time series champion Dale Earnhardt, the younger racer made his 631st career start Sunday at Homestead. In a Cup career that began in 1999 when he made five starts, Earnhardt won 26 times, including twice in the series’ biggest race, the season-opening Daytona 500.
He is also a two-time champion in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, where he won titles in 1998 and ’99 and 24 races.
There were non-points wins as well for the series’ 14-time most popular driver. He is a two-time winner of the series annual All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the annual Bud Shootout held at Daytona. He has five career wins in qualifying races at Daytona (used to set the field for the Daytona 500) as well.
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Moments after taking the stage for what has become an annual wrap-up of the NASCAR season and state of affairs in the sport, NASCAR CEO Brian France singled out Earnhardt for his role on Sunday morning at Homestead.
“He has made an obviously big contribution on and off the track for a long time,” France said. “So while we’re going to miss him for obvious reasons, he is not going to be that far away, being an owner and working with NBC. So he’s going to be glued to the sport, and that’s a good thing for us.”
Fellow drivers and team owners, dignitaries and officials gave him a standing ovation at the conclusion of a video presentation featuring athletes, fellow competitors, actors and numerous others from across the sports and entertainment industry.
As for the car, Earnhardt said it will go “wherever (wife) Amy lets me put it.”
“We’ve got that 2 car coming from Talladega, which still ain’t there yet, dammit,” he said.
As a parting gift from Talladega Superspeedway, officials there and in conjunction with the International Motorsports Hall of Fame arranged for him to obtain the No. 2 Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by his legendary father in 1979 and ’80.
“She said that (car) is going in the main garage,” Earnhardt said, “and we’ve only got four (garage) stalls. We’ll put this one in there and have to park the good (expletive) outside I guess.”
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