Hendrick driver hopes next 40 years as great as first 40
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KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. turns 40 next week, and it’s hard to believe NASCAR’s most popular driver is moving into the latter stages of his career.
"I've definitely accomplished more than I thought I would when I was younger," Earnhardt Jr. said Friday at Kansas Speedway, site of Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 (ESPN, 2 p.m. ET).
"I just wanted to make it and being the son of a guy that was so successful -- the more success he had it seemed like the harder it would be for me to make it. I would just be sort of a chapter in that whole thing."
The son of seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt, the younger Earnhardt has always lived in his father’s shadow, even as his own popularity in the sport grew.
He has scored 22 career Sprint Cup victories since his debut in '99 and finished as high as third in the points standings. He's a two-time winner of the Daytona 500.
Still searching for that first championship, he is one of 12 drivers that remain in contention for this year's title.
"I'm real happy with what I've been able to accomplish, who I have been able to work with and the friends I've been able to make," Earnhardt Jr. said. "That is probably the best thing -- the relationships that you create.
"Being a part of this sport, there are so many great people in it, no matter what department you talk about. It's just fun getting to know all those people that helped get this thing going and move it from race to race."
What he's been able to accomplish on the track, he said, "definitely exceeded my expectations."
"We are still winning races and running good," said the driver who won the season-opening Daytona 500 and swept both races at Pocono this season, "so maybe we can get a few more wins and have some more fun before it's over.
"Definitely having this birthday come up makes you reflect quite a bit back on not so much the decisions or any regrets you have, just the fun stuff you have done and is the next 40 years going to be just as good?
"Because the first 40 were pretty great."
And after his Sprint Cup career is over? It's likely, he said, that he'll spend time racing for his own JR Motorsports team, which currently fields full-time entries in NASCAR's Nationwide Series for drivers Chase Elliott and Regan Smith, as well as a third car that runs a limited schedule with various drivers.
"I would like to race for that company one day," he said, “so I hope to keep it healthy until that opportunity presents itself.
"Whenever I'm done Cup racing (I'd like) to jump in a Nationwide car and do that for a couple of years in my own shop."
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