Dale Earnhardt Jr. turned 42 on Monday, marking another trip around the sun for the Hendrick Motorsports star. Adding another candle to the cake may solidify his place among the so-called elder statesmen in the NASCAR garage, but it hasn't made him feel any older or any less passionate about stock car racing.
Earnhardt Jr., sidelined since July through the remainder of the season after being diagnosed with a concussion, cited several fellow competitors who have had success into their 40s -- Jeff Gordon and Greg Biffle, in particular -- to illustrate that there's no firm timetable for retirement.
"I don't know if age is really a factor. It's really about the passion you have for it, if you can get out of bed and get up on the wheel and want to do it," Earnhardt said Wednesday at Martinsville Speedway's announcement for its offseason lighting project. "When you get up and you don't want it as much as the next guy, then you've got to start thinking about whether you belong there, whether the team deserves that kind of commitment.
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"The team's going to go in there and work their guts out; they need a driver with the same attitude. And any time you feel like you just don't have that attitude, you need to start thinking about letting someone else get in there and giving the team an opportunity."
Earnhardt said he was unsure why some drivers' careers fade, chalking it up to several different factors: "The cars, the team, the organization, maybe." The common thread -- regardless of age, he said -- was the desire to compete at a high level, especially with a young crop of teens and 20-somethings knocking down the door to NASCAR's national series.
"It came real easy when you're young, but the older you get, it's a little bit harder," Earnhardt said of staying motivated. "And them young guys, man, they're coming. They're coming into the sport wide-open and it's getting harder and harder to keep up with 'em. But I feel good, I feel young. I feel younger than my years, but as long as you have the passion and commitment to do what you have to do, not just on Sunday and Friday and Saturday, but during the week.
"There's a lot of commitments, not only with sponsors, but you've got meetings and you've got to be at the shop and you've got to make yourself available and accountable with the team. There's just so much that goes into being successful, and if you don't have the passion for that, then you probably don't need to be wasting anybody's time. I think that's probably what happens is you sort of lose that want-to, to be able to get up and go do it."