Some of NASCAR’s biggest stars are competing in a new exhibition eNASCAR series while real-life racing is postponed.
Basically the entire sports world is on hiatus as the result of the novel coronavirus outbreak with the NBA, MLB and NHL among the many sports organizations suspending their seasons. But NASCAR has a way to keep its drivers competing against each other.
Sure, other pro athletes are grinding away at Madden and NBA 2K and FIFA 20 and so many more video games mimicking professional sports. But those video games don’t quite compare with iRacing, NASCAR’s greatest asset in these uncertain times amid a global pandemic.
NASCAR and iRacing, the online racing simulator, announced Tuesday night the creation of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, a multi-week series to fill the temporary racing void with drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin — who owns two cars in the already existing pro iRacing series, including one with a Jumpman paint scheme designed with Michael Jordan’s help. Dale Jr.’s team, JR Motorsports, also has two iRacing cars this season.
(The two organizations already had a partnership for the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, which is in its 11th season with some of the best simulation drivers competing for more than $300,000.)
This isn’t the same as, say, NBA players being themselves in 2K. iRacing requires a computer, a steering wheel and pedals, more or less allowing real-world professional racing skills to translate to the virtual track. Several current drivers in NASCAR’s top series have started their careers in iRacing.
I’ve been running on a laptop on a cardboard box in our dining room. I do have a new @NZXT system and ultra wide monitor on the way, but something like this is all you need to get started to see if you enjoy it, which you will. pic.twitter.com/n7sfaAvgEs
Earnhardt Jr., Hamlin and William Byron are among the successful Cup Series drivers who previously raced online.
“I was very good at iRacing back in the day; I sat on the pole and won some really big, prestigious races,” Hamlin told NBC Sports in February. “Now back then, there were like 5,000 people that raced online, and now there’s over a hundred thousand that do iRacing.”
And currently without real-life racing, there are a few more sim drivers joining or returning to the virtual track. In addition to Dale Jr., Busch and Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell are expected to participate in this exhibition eNASCAR series.
The first race is set for Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET on the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway track, where NASCAR was scheduled to compete this weekend before the season was suspended. Remaining race times have not yet been announced, and, according to Autoweek, NASCAR is attempting to get the first race aired on FOX Sports or NBC Sports Network.
NASCAR president Steve Phelps spoke about NASCAR’s reliance on iRacing during the coronavirus pandemic while on a media conference call Tuesday prior to the pro series announcement. He said:
“There are discussions we’re having with FOX about what things we can do, discussions we would have with NBC, things that we can put through our own channels that satisfy our fans. Our fans are obviously thirsty for this content. We want to provide it to them smartly and have interesting content as opposed to just repurposing some of the content that’s already been done.”
“Thirsty” is an understatement. With the season postponed after just four races in 2020, fans are desperate for competition. And as just about every other sport being put on hold in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19, some NASCAR fans, inexplicably, argued for competition to carry on, despite the fast-spreading virus and ignoring the severity of the situation.
That group of fans didn’t get its wish because it’s just not safe for those in NASCAR or anyone they may interact with to gather right now. But there is a pretty solid next-best option.
While virtual racing certainly isn’t exactly the same as the real world, it’s close enough, especially compared with the alternatives other pro sports have to offer.
And we got a quick preview of what this exhibition eNASCAR series could be like. Sunday, drivers and others in the industry united for a one-off iRacing event called The Replacements 100 at the virtual Atlanta Motor Speedway, where NASCAR was scheduled to race last weekend.
It included Earnhardt, Hamlin, Alex Bowman and Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr., and Ryan Blaney’s spotter Josh Williams outlasted Byron for the win. As Autoweek reported, the Twitch broadcast peaked at 27,000 viewers.
Diehard racing fans or those with experience online (watching or competing) will surely tune in for NASCAR’s exhibition iRacing series regardless, and big names like Earnhardt, Busch and Hamlin could attract more people who might not be interested otherwise.
Plus, if it comes to fruition, successfully broadcasting these races on national TV would shine a spotlight on the virtual racing, which NASCAR has been trying to promote anyway. And it could just reach a much broader audience and quench that thirst.
With a total of seven Cup Series races postponed at this point — and perhaps more to come — NASCAR has a noticeable and rare advantage over mainstream sports in the gaming world. It’s playing the only real card it had, and while iRacing isn’t quite the same, it’s good enough for now.
Dale Jr.’s daughter Isla is going to be a big sister.
Dale Jr. and Amy Earnhardt are expecting their second child, Amy announced on Instagram on Wednesday with the help of their first child, Isla. In an adorable video, Isla, who will celebrate her second birthday on April 30, told the world that her parents are expecting an addition to their family.
Considering Dale Jr. was voted NASCAR’s 15-time most popular driver — he’s now retired from full-time racing but competes once a year in the second-tier XFINITY Series — fans were beyond excited for Isla’s birth in 2018. And their second child should be no different.
Paired with the video on Instagram, Amy wrote: “Isla has some news!#gonbabeaseester”.
Although Amy did not mention her due date, in a second Instagram post, she shared the video of her telling Junior the good news: “And this is how Dad reacted when I told him a few weeks ago 😂”.
In the replies, Dale Jr. said: “Shocked and confused me was very happy”.
In 2018 when Isla was about five months old, she “saw” her father race for the first time. It was his once-a-year race, this time at Richmond Raceway, and Dale Jr. said he was just so happy to have her be part of his racing life, however brief.
“I was thrilled to have Isla there,” he said. “She won’t remember what happened today, but if I never run another race, I got to have her at one event and we got a picture at the car before the race that she’ll be able to have the rest of her life. It doesn’t matter to me if she ever thinks that’s a big deal, but I want her to have some understanding, I guess, of what I did before she was born.”
“I’m a lot more careful where I stick it now,” Ken Schrader joked with Dale Jr.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has led countless fascinating, hilarious and insightful conversations on his weekly podcast, the Dale Jr. Download, and this week’s guest, Ken Schrader, did not disappoint.
The pair, along with podcast co-host Mike Davis, covered a wide variety of topics, many of which focused on Schrader’s extensive racing career. And at one point in an abrupt change in conversation, Earnhardt asked the 64-year-old racer to recall how he lost part of his thumb at the race track.
“I’m a lot more careful where I stick it now,” Schrader joked before diving into one of the most cringeworthy NASCAR stories.
A new @DaleJr Download – Ken Schrader: The Best Week Ever!
🤫Negotiations with a bouncer 🤬Damn Terry Labonte 🦌Dale Sr. & Bambi ✍️Note to Ken 🤏Little ass spoilers
He explained how, in 1995 at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington for a NASCAR Truck Series race, he was getting ready for practice. The hood of his truck was up, and to Schrader, the alternator belt in the engine appeared a little off. So he tried to fix it himself.
“So they just fired the truck up, I’m in my uniform, gonna warm it up, practice 15 minutes. It died. I reached down there — the belt looked loose — and when I reached down there, they fired it back up [and couldn’t see Schrader] because the hood was up. And [the thumb] went around between the belt and the pulley to the ear on the alternator.”
Schrader lost the top of his thumb and the first joint in the mishap. He continued:
“It was only bleeding in one place because it was all melded together, and I put a shop towel over it and started walking toward the ambulance and I told [crew chief] Timmy [Kohuth], I said, ‘Get my thumb and put it in a cup, and come over to the ambulance.'”
22 years ago today, Ken Schrader lost part of his thumb before for a Truck race @ Evergreen. pic.twitter.com/nc7l2Vtmlt
After a bit of confusion because the ambulance driver at the track was absent, he said he briefly went to the medical center before eventually going to the hospital. And he had specific instructions for the hospital staff.
“I said, ‘Make sure you cut a little extra out,'” Schrader recalled. “I’ve heard about people that cut a little extra bone out, so there’s enough meat on the end [to protect it] when you hit it.”
Back in 1995, Schrader told the Associated Press that losing the tip of his thumb didn’t impair his ability to drive, but “[i]t’s hard to tie your shoes.”
You can listen to the full Dale Jr. Download episode here.
Dale Jr. said fans attacking Denny Hamlin were being “overly critical.”
Denny Hamlin didn’t know the severity of Ryan Newman’s last-lap crash when he began celebrating his second consecutive Daytona 500 victory. The No. 11 Toyota driver did a burnout on the grass near the frontstretch at Daytona International Speedway and continued his celebration with his team in Victory Lane.
But as soon as they learned Newman — whose car spun, hit the wall before being slammed into by Corey LaJoie, went airborne and slid off the track upside down — might not be OK, they stopped celebrating and team owner Joe Gibbs immediately apologized. Gibbs later apologized again as he, Hamlin and spotter Chris Lambert explained they didn’t realize what was happening.
Newman was taken to a nearby Daytona Beach hospital and was released Wednesday, less than 48 hours after the crash.
Despite the No. 11 team’s explanation, NASCAR fans on Twitter relentlessly criticized Hamlin and the team after the crash for celebrating their win, which Dale Earnhardt Jr. described as “overly critical” with Twitter being “all over the dang place.”
Here is the final lap of the Daytona 500 in which Ryan Newman's car was flipped at the line.
First a foremost I want to give well wishes and prayers to @RyanJNewman. I had absolutely NO IDEA of the severity of the crash until I got to victory lane. There’s very little communication after the finish and i had already unhooked my radio. It’s not anyone’s fault. 🙏Rocket
"I think (fans) are being overly critical of Denny."@DaleJr defended @DennyHamlin after celebrating his Daytona 500 win, comparing it to the celebration after @MW55 won the 2001 race — not knowing what was going on. pic.twitter.com/imaTIZRkA2
“Denny goes and celebrates his win, and he caught a lot of flack for that. And I didn’t feel like that was deserving. I appreciate Joe Gibbs issuing an apology, but I didn’t feel it was necessary. But in this day and time, it certainly is for people get triggered so easily.
“But if people think back [to] Dad’s accident in 2001, Michael celebrated. He was in Victory Lane with his entire team celebrating — the team owned by my dad — before they finally were getting the right information. And no one ever in that moment went, ‘Oh, how dare Michael be celebrating until we figure out what’s going on with Earnhardt?’ So it’s a different time, and people react differently to those type of situations. I think they’re being overly critical of Denny and his team.
“It’s unfortunate that someone in that camp did not get to Denny quicker and tell him to pause and hold on his celebration. It didn’t happen, and it’s unfortunate, but it’s not anyone was right or wrong. It’s just how it played out. And we’ve seen it happen before and we’ve been much less critical in other situations that were extremely similar.”
Earnhardt and podcast co-host Mike Davis also brought up the 2015 summer race at Daytona. Junior won as Austin Dillon was involved in a huge wreck with his No. 3 Chevrolet ending up in the catchfence.
Comparing that situation to the one Hamlin was in Monday night, Earnhardt said he most likely would have been celebrating his win if he hadn’t seen Dillon’s wreck unfold behind him.
“If I had no idea that the 3 car went into the grandstands, I definitely probably would have been celebrating. But I happened to, just at that moment, catch a glimpse of what I thought was the bottom of the car, so in my mind, I’m assuming that the roof of that car had went into the fence, which is a terrible scenario.
“I’ve seen a lot of bad things in racing, and I’ve seen more than one death at a race track. I’ve been at race tracks where people have lost their lives and multiple times. So I feel like Denny, he won the race. He obviously did not see the severity of the crash in the mirror. He did not understand — how could he know that Corey LaJoie made contact with Newman’s car the way it did? None of us would have known, had we not seeing it on TV with the replays and so forth, right? We all had much more, much, much more information than Denny ever had. That’s all I think needs to be said about that.”
Dale Jr. thought he’d miss racing less and less with time. He was wrong.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. knew he’d miss being behind the wheel after he retired from racing full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series at the end of the 2017 season. But he also thought those longing feelings would dissipate with time.
Turns out, not only was he wrong, but he said the opposite is actually happening.
“I really miss racing,” Earnhardt said Sunday at Daytona International Speedway during a press conference before the season-opening Daytona 500. He was the honorary starter and waved the first green flag of the race.
“I really miss driving, and it’s getting worse. I thought as I got out of the car and the further I got from my full-time career, the less that would bother me. But it actually is getting worse for some reason.”
So it’s a good thing his one race a year in NASCAR’s second-tier XFINITY Series is coming early in 2020 compared with past seasons.
Earnhardt will drive the No. 8 Chevrolet for his own XFINITY team, JR Motorsports, at Homestead-Miami Speedway in March. For his one-off races in 2018 and 2019, he had to wait until September at Richmond Raceway and August at Darlington Raceway, respectively. He finished fourth at Richmond and fifth at Darlington.
“I really look forward to getting some seat time and smelling the smells and hearing the noises and just enjoying being in the car,” Earnhardt said.
(Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
He’s obviously excited about racing again, but running one race annually comes with plenty of challenges too.
“I’m nervous, I’ll be honest,” Junior admitted with a laugh. “Just being out of the car for a year, it’s kind of tough jumping back in there and getting right back into it and understanding exactly where the limits are.”
Now an analyst for NBC Sports, which broadcasts the second half of the 36-race Cup Series schedule, Earnhardt explained that missing racing and occasionally returning to the track both help him in the booth. He said it helps him recall the mindset and emotions of a driver, which translates to better insight on TV.
But just because he’s missing racing a lot more than he thought he would doesn’t mean he’s ready to add more than one race a season to his schedule. He said he’s talked to a couple Cup Series teams about possibly testing a car because he doesn’t know how the latest package feels with bigger downforce, but races are off the table.
“It’s a healthy thing to miss it, want to do it,” Earnhardt said. “I think it helps me in the booth to have that energy as a fan. So I think one’s plenty. One’s probably more than I should be doing.
“I’ve got my wife and Isla and all that. I should devote as much as I can to them. One’s just perfect.”
NASCAR’s spotters guide drivers to the best part of Daytona’s track and keep them out of massive wrecks — or at least try to.
This is the Daytona 500 from the Sky: A multi-part series from For The Win looking at NASCAR’s biggest race of the year from an aerial perspective.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The Daytona 500 is chaos. Cars careen into each other frequently. Last year, 21 of 40 cars were collected in a giant wreck with just a few laps remaining. The No. 1 factor in whether a driver makes it out clean? A spotter giving him direction through an earpiece based on what he sees from his perch high above Daytona International Speedway.
During the first and biggest race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, 40 spotters, one for each entered team, are crammed onto an elevated platform on the roof of the tower, which includes the press box and suites below and hovers over the track’s frontstretch grandstands. The spotters stand isn’t particularly wide, and each spotter only has a couple feet of space to occupy as they’re looking down at the iconic 2.5-mile race track.
They’re armed with binoculars, water, sunscreen, four radios and several spare batteries just in case — Chase Elliott’s spotter, Eddie D’Hondt, even had a sandwich bag filled with throat lozenges Saturday — the spotters’ job at Daytona is simple, in theory: Communicate constantly with the drivers, keep them safe and give your team a chance to win by surviving the all-but-guaranteed carnage.
Eddie D’Hondt, Chase Elliott’s spotter, gets ready for the last Daytona 500 practice.
At one of NASCAR’s longest tracks, the cars draft off each other, racing inches apart and capitalizing on their own momentum or stealing someone else’s. Because of the draft, spotters and drivers agreed the superspeedways — like Daytona, Talladega Superspeedway and Pocono Raceway — are where the spotters are the most crucial. Over their team radios, they’re throwing as much valuable information as they can at the driver — though careful not to talk just to talk — while guiding the car to the lane with the most momentum and keeping it out of trouble.
“[The] spotter is very important at the [superspeedway] races because you can’t see everything that you want to see,” defending Cup Series champion Kyle Busch said. “In a perfect world, if you could drive the race car from outside the back of the car like you can on a video game, that’s where you want to be.”
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The spotters are talking almost constantly, describing as many observations as they can to aid the driver’s decision-making. It’s a wide range, like who’s going two- or three- wide and where, who’s about to push you, who’s making a move, when to throw a block, when they’ve cleared a car, who’s about to wreck, who’s already wrecking and where to go to avoid it.
Seamless communication could be the difference between avoiding a crash by inches or getting your race car towed off the track. Trust between a driver and spotter is critical too because, as defending Daytona 500 champ Denny Hamlin explained, “I do not have time to check to make sure what my spotter is telling me is true.”
Sometimes, even a team’s crew chief will tell the spotter to relay a message about strategy or the car’s handling to the driver instead of jumping on the radio and saying it himself for the sake of continuity.
Similar to the NASCAR saying about superspeedway masters “seeing” the flow of the air, the spotters feel like they can see and sense momentum shifts. But there’s still plenty of luck involved at Daytona, so it’s not everyone’s favorite track.
“Ultimately, it all comes down to the racing gods,” Tony Hirschman, Busch’s spotter, said. “When they’re all wrecking around you, they’re either going to wreck into your lane or wreck away from you, so fingers crossed that you can maybe try to skate on through.”
TJ Majors — who’s entering his 16th full-time Cup Series season and was previously Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s spotter — said he could even look at a random photo or video and identify which car has momentum or is about to make a move.
“I’d keep saying to [Majors] before every race at Daytona: ‘Just remember, TJ, just paint the picture,’” said Earnhardt, who won two Daytona 500s. “I wanted him to feel like I never needed to look in the mirror out of curiosity, and I could always focus on what’s going on in front of me.”
***
Although everyone wants their team to be the last one standing in Victory Lane, working together is advantageous at a track like Daytona. Not only will teammates coordinate to draft with each other, but teams with the same manufacturer, Toyota, Ford or Chevrolet, will fall in line and draft together — at least until the end when it becomes every man for himself. Without a little teamwork, the physics of racing could leave them behind to fend for themselves.
There are also little in-race side deals spotters will sometimes negotiate with each other — like help on a late restart after a caution flag slows the field – but that game plan only works about 15 percent of the time, Hirschman guessed. Even if the spotter agrees to help out another team, perhaps the driver won’t or can’t, depending on how the moment plays out.
The view of the track from the spotters stand at Daytona.
Coordinating outside of their teams isn’t exclusive to races either. Saturday during the final Daytona 500 practice, seven-time champion and No. 48 Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson’s spotter, Earl Barban, walked down the spotters stand asking, “Anyone drafting?”
To which Majors, who’s Joey Logano’s spotter for the No. 22 Ford team, replied with a laugh, “Not with you.”
Some ask another team’s spotter to work with them. Others are a little more direct. But it still doesn’t always work out if the drivers aren’t on board or don’t execute properly.
“I don’t ask; I tell,” D’Hondt said. “I’m one of the senior guys up there, so we get a lot of respect. So if I go and tell them something, it’s not really asking.
“And they’re respected too because I’ll get told also, ‘Hey, this is what I’m doing. I need your help.’ We get it. We’re up there 12, 14 hours a day, three days a week. We know everything about each other.”
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They spend that much time together because most spotters work the Cup Series, XFINITY Series and Truck Series. Some even do ARCA races and other lower-tiered events too.
“If you don’t [work the three national series], there’s something wrong with you,” said D’Hondt, who’s entering his 18th year in the Cup Series but has never won the Daytona 500.
Between practices for some series in the morning and races later in the day, spotters can be up on the unshaded stand for hours on hours. Some go up there with coolers with sandwiches, snacks and drinks, while Hirschman even has a folding chair he brings up there to help him “work smarter, not harder” and relax briefly during breaks.
The spotters stand during the last Daytona 500 practice on Saturday.
They each spot from the same place on the roof for each race, and it doesn’t change when they switch teams, Majors explained, because they’re all so used to their specific sight lines on the track.
The car numbers are written on the railing overlooking the track, sometimes along with their names and minimal notes jotted down on masking tape. Hirschman has “CHAMP18N” written next to his name after Busch’s No. 18 Toyota team won it all last season.
The spotters spend significantly more time on the roof of the tower with each other than they do with their own teams, and their schedules often line up together more than with their own team’s crew. Many of them have spent 38 race weekends on roofs at race tracks for years together, if not decades, so they become friends when they’re not competitors.
D’Hondt and TJ Majors, Joey Logano’s spotter and a self-described class clown.
Hirschman said he and Kevin Hamlin, Alex Bowman’s spotter with the No. 88 Chevrolet, are huge Duke fans and went out to dinner and watched the Blue Devils beat UNC the night before the Busch Clash, last weekend’s exhibition race at Daytona. Majors described himself as the class clown in between physically poking Chris Osborne, John Hunter Nemechek’s No. 38 Ford, during Saturday’s Cup practice.
“It’s like going to school,” Majors said. “Every year, you might have one or two new kids but for the most part, it’s the same group. … And it’s like we all have assigned seats because we go to the same spot that we’ve been spotting in for years.”
***
Being friends outside of work is great, but that doesn’t prevent plenty of in-race conflicts between spotters when there’s drama on the track.
At the 75-lap Clash last Sunday, Logano and Busch ignited a late wreck, and the finger pointing began. Frustrated, Busch described what appeared to be Logano blocking multiple times as “a few bad decisions,” while the No. 22 Ford driver brushed it off and said he thought he did “a good job blocking.”
As it turns out, their spotters were having the same debate — though it was a bit more intense and with each other, rather than through the media — up on the spotters stand.
Logano and Busch leading a wreck during the Clash, an exhibition event at Daytona International Speedway. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Hirschman, Busch’s spotter, stands feet away from Majors, Logano’s spotter, on the spotters stand, and he said he only yelled at Majors “a little bit” after the crash took out Busch’s No. 18 Toyota but not the No. 22.
“I told him, ‘If you want to come down here and talk about Old Bay, then we’ll talk about that,’” Majors recalled, saying Hirschman puts the seasoning on everything.
“‘But until then, go back down to your spot!’ He started laughing a little bit for a second, then he got mad again.”
At the Daytona track, spotters are packed fairly close to each other, so although Hirshman and Majors’ fiery exchange wasn’t public, it also wasn’t private.
“Oh, it got pretty heated,” said D’Hondt, who’s stands immediately to the left of Majors and four places to the right of Hirschman. “I was right in the middle of it. TJ’s on one side of me, Tony’s two over on the other side, so I was like the bologna in the sandwich.”
Understandably, both Majors and Hirschman defended their respective drivers. Plus, seeing the wreck unfold only in real time, it’s easy to assume the other spotter and driver are 100 percent wrong.
Majors during the last Daytona 500 practice Saturday.
Days later, they were able to tease each other about it and let go of the blame, agreeing physics may have played the largest role in the wreck with Logano blocking Busch and getting loose, which led to Busch making contact with Logano’s car. But that’s much harder to recognize in the heat of the moment.
“You’ll have three or four different versions of a wreck,” Hirshman said. “You race enough and you’re competitive enough, there’s no angels out there. You’re going to have incidents, and everybody’s take on those vary.”
Stuck in the middle, D’Hondt said when these things happen, it’s best to let the spotters “hash it out” and try not to let it get physical.
“There have been a few physical confrontations, but they’re few and far between,” said Hirschman, who’s entering his ninth season spotting for Busch.
And they don’t take it personally, so it’s easy to let go and resume their friendship when the day is over.
“We’re not driving the cars,” Majors said. “I didn’t turn the wheel, and I know [Hirschman] didn’t work the gas and brake pedal of the car. He didn’t personally drive into us or whatever it was.”
***
To win the Daytona 500, everyone on the team has to perform nearly flawlessly, and even then, sometimes that’s not enough if the driver happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, getting collected in a massive wreck kicked off by someone else’s mistake. Communication from spotter to driver doesn’t just need to be constant, but it also needs to be precise and clear.
Spotters during practice for the Daytona 500.
“Everything has to be perfect,” Logano said. “And perfect means that you can still get caught up in something, obviously, out there. But the way you recover from it you need to be perfect.”
Spotters can’t predict every move, they can’t sense every ounce of momentum and, despite their high-tech binoculars, they don’t have a clear view of some parts of the 2.5-mile track. They’ll make mistakes just like drivers and hope an error doesn’t lead to a destroyed race car headed toward the garage. And if a screw-up hurts someone else, the best thing a spotter can do is find the aggrieved spotter up there and apologize.
“I can respect a guy that comes down there and says, ‘Hey, I messed up,’” Majors said.
“You can be mad and disappointed, but what are you going to do? You can’t change it now, so the quicker you can rebound and get yourself in your happy shoes, the better you’ll be.”
Clint Bowyer does a pretty amazing Dale Jr. impression.
NASCAR Cup Series stars Clint Bowyer and Brad Keselowski joined the FS1 broadcast booth to call Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway, and Bowyer delivered a hilarious Dale Earnhardt Jr. impression near the end of the second stage. When discussing the merits of running the top lane versus the bottom lane, Bowyer speculated that Earnhardt Jr. was likely instructing his JR Motorsports driver and race leader Justin Allgaier to move to the top side of the track, in his own version of Earnhardt’s southern accent.
What some of Jimmie Johnson’s recently retired peers would tell him ahead of his last season in NASCAR.
Everything Jimmie Johnson does in the next nine months he’ll do for the last time as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver. Going into this season with such a clear resolution and plan for his future hands him another advantage over so many other recent NASCAR drivers.
When you’re a seven-time champion with 83 wins (tied for No. 6 all time) and undeniably in the NASCAR GOAT debate, you get to choose your exit. Johnson announced in November, shortly after the end of the 2019 season, that he plans to retire from full-time racing at the end of the 2020 season when his contract is up with Hendrick Motorsports, the only Cup team he’s ever raced for.
Not everyone is fortunate enough to leave the sport on their own terms. Some drivers are forced out because of injuries, sponsorship issues or being unable to find a ride they want, and those drivers don’t always have the benefit of knowing when it’s their last Daytona 500 or their last race at this track or that one.
And it can be devastating to realize it’s time to call it quits or to attempt to “understand why somebody doesn’t want you” after a life dedicated to the sport, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. He was almost forced to leave the sport early for health reasons after a concussion sidelined him for the second half of the 2016 season but was able to return and run one last full-time season before retiring in 2017.
“If you got forced out for any reason, not knowing you just ran your last race, hell, I can’t imagine how difficult that must be,” said Earnhardt, a close friend and former teammate of Johnson’s who is still “bothered now” by how much he misses racing.
Johnson and his then- crew chief, Chad Knaus, after winning their seventh championship in 2016. (John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports)
Johnson, though, knows for sure this is it and can plan accordingly. At 44 years old, Johnson is the oldest full-time driver in the Cup Series and going into his 19th full-time season. His 20-something teammates jokingly call him grandpa.
For most of last season, the No. 48 Chevrolet driver was adamant that he wasn’t done racing, as questions about his age and future swirled. But something hit him in October, and he said “it felt good to think” about retiring. He described it as a “profound moment,” comparing it to when he realized he wanted to propose to his wife, Chandra.
“It was just that strong in my stomach,” Johnson said at his retirement press conference in November. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is what I want to do.’ … I feel so fortunate that it showed up to me in that way.”
So he gets one last go-around for a 36-race schedule (plus two exhibition events). Johnson has said several times that he’s not done racing, but he’s saying goodbye to NASCAR’s brutally demanding schedule and going out his own way.
But even when you get to make the call yourself, it’s still bittersweet.
“Retiring and ending your career is not a celebratory experience,” said Earnhardt, who’s now an NBC Sports analyst. “The decision to retire is a sad one because racing’s all you ever did and all you ever wanted to do, and it’s a strange thing to make the decision to walk away from it. Being able to do it on your own terms is more about walking away with as much dignity as you can have but also controlling that narrative of the sadness and the disappointment.”
***
Whether drivers were forced out of NASCAR, chose their retirement date or even made unexpected returns, the sentiment among several recently retired drivers is largely the same.
If Johnson consulted them looking for advice about retirement and his final season — and he did with friends like Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon, another former teammate who’s a part owner of the No. 48 car — they’d tell him to make a conscious effort to enjoy the little details of his farewell tour.
Earnhardt, Kasey Kahne, Gordon and Johnson in 2014. (Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports)
Michael Waltrip, whose last Cup race was the 2017 Daytona 500, said he would tell Johnson just what he’d go back and tell himself with the advantage of hindsight: Try to slow down and enjoy the final, sure-to-be-whirlwind year.
“For me — and I’ve learned this over the last few years — I’d just like to stop and take a moment to look around, to shake someone’s hand or make someone smile,” said Waltrip, who’s now part of FOX Sports’ broadcast team. “Just appreciate what you have and how special it’s been and never take it for granted. Take a minute to smile or soak it all in. You’ll remember that forever.”
For his part, Johnson appears to be trying to do that. He’s letting go of the “Chasing 8” mantra he’s had since he won No. 7 in 2016 in favor of something more reflective and appreciative: “One Final Time.” In a Twitter video describing his change in mentality, he described racing for a statistic as “a bit out of character.”
“It’s my last full-time year with Mr. Hendrick, with my sponsors, with my team, out there with my family,” he said. “This is just one final time, and it feels so good to be able to let go of that chasing part.”
Gordon, Patrick and Jeff Burton explained that appreciating the little moments comes naturally when you’re younger and still new to NASCAR’s premier level. Early in their careers, they said they were still giddy and excited and even a little starstruck.
But the grind of constant competition on the track, for the spotlight and with sponsors — plus the grueling schedule and dragging a family around the country for nine months every year — slowly chips away at that.
“People ask me all the time, ‘Was racing fun?’” Burton said. “Hell no, it wasn’t fun. It’s work. I loved it, and you can love something and have it not be fun.
“From the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep, you’re competing for something if you’re going to do this and do it well. And it takes the fun out of it. It doesn’t take the passion out of it, but it’s not really a game anymore.”
Knowing it’s your last full season — and likely last race at the majority (if not all) of NASCAR’s 24 tracks — can be invigorating and reignites that youthful giddiness, Earnhardt said, especially when “a lot of the enjoyment gets zapped out of the job over the years.”
Then the challenge becomes striking a balance between taking in the moment and holding onto that lifelong competitive fire to try to go out on top in some capacity. Easier said than done, and Johnson told For The Win he’s “fearful” about succeeding at that.
Johnson, his daughters, daughters, Lydia and Genvieve, and Patrick at the 2018 Daytona 500. (Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
Gordon said he told Johnson the best way to find that balance is planning and being more informed than ever about everything, from maintaining a strong relationship with his crew chief, Cliff Daniels, and engineers to knowing ahead of time how each track will celebrate you. Limiting what could catch Johnson off guard could open him up to taking a relaxing moment here and there for himself, he said.
“There were definitely moments when I thought, ‘OK, this is going to be the last time I do this,’ ” said Gordon, who retired from full-time racing at the end of the 2015 season but filled in for an injured Earnhardt for eight races in 2016.
“I felt like I had this weight lifted off of me where I could enjoy those moments because for so many years, I was so focused on competition, competition, win, win, win,” the now-FOX Sports broadcaster explained. “And that can be exhausting and draining. So I felt like for my final year, I found a great balance between enjoying those moments and also pushing myself to stay competitive. And I think that’s what Jimmie is going to deal with a lot.”
And while there will surely be plenty of things Johnson knows he’ll miss when he’s not behind the wheel full time, Patrick said it’s also “perfectly fine with being OK with not missing things,” like time-consuming sponsor or media obligations or certain tracks you never ran well at.
“I don’t know if that’s how Jimmie will feel or not,” Patrick said. “There’s something that allows you to have that latitude to say, ‘I think this is going to be the end,’ and I would imagine there will be a few things where he’ll be like, ‘Won’t miss that!’ And good, because otherwise, you should stay.”
***
At Johnson’s retirement press conference in November, he said his team’s recent slump had “very little implication” on his decision to walk away at the end of the 2020 season. But amid the worst stretch of his storied career, it’s also impossible to ignore.
Sure, he has 83 wins, by far the most among active drivers, and until Kyle Busch won the 2019 Cup Series championship, Johnson was the only active driver with more than one, including an unprecedented five in a row. But his last trip to Victory Lane was back in June of 2017, which tied Cale Yarborough on the all-time wins list. And last season, Johnson missed the playoffs, which were established in 2004, for the first time in his career.
Johnson at Phoenix Raceway in 2019. (Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)
With so many checkered flags, and having already tied Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt with a record seven championships, Gordon said there’s “no doubt” Johnson’s put some extra pressure on himself to win one more race and at least try to contend for another championship.
“I can tell Jimmie doesn’t want to put that added pressure on himself or let others know that’s on his mind,” Gordon said. “But I know, deep down inside, that’s important to him.”
But if the last two seasons are any indication, Johnson and his 48 team have a long way to go. In 2018 and 2019 combined, he had five top-5 finishes with an average finish of about 17th and eight total DNFs. He did, however, win the 2019 Clash at Daytona International Speedway, a 75-lap exhibition event, but it came after he ignited a massive wreck that took out almost the entire field.
He also parted ways with longtime crew chief Chad Knaus after their winless 2018 campaign, and again changed crew chiefs in 2019 from Kevin Meendering to Daniels — only this time it was almost two-thirds of the way into the season.
“We’ve all had the peaks and the valleys, and when you’re a seven-time champion, that valley’s a hell of a lot lower,” Burton said. “In my opinion, he’s not coming back for a farewell tour. He’s coming back to redeem the last two years. That’s what I believe. He’s too competitive not to, and I just think that’s where he is.
“I don’t think it’s about winning a race or making the playoffs. I think it’s about doing better than the last two years have been, and if he does that, he will make the playoffs.”
If his final season doesn’t go particularly well, Waltrip joked Johnson can always do what he does and walk by his two Daytona 500 trophies (Johnson won in 2006 and 2013) — or, you know, any of the many others — and feel a little better knowing he did something incredible.
Johnson after winning the 2013 Daytona 500. (Kevin Liles-USA TODAY Sports)
Not that anyone would expect a fierce competitor and all-around athlete like Johnson to give anything less than his all. But throwing 100 percent at his final season — along with appreciating the little things that would have otherwise been mundane — could help minimize any regrets, Burton added.
Johnson is headed into his 19th full-time season, and no one does anything that long without accumulating a few disappointments along the way. But Burton and Mark Martin would assure him that if he doesn’t hold back, he probably won’t lose any sleep over his last full-time season, regardless of what happens.
“I think he would do fine with [not getting one more win],” said Martin, who retired from full-time racing twice and called it a career in 2013 with 40 wins (but no championship).
“You always give everything you’ve got, 100 percent. And then really, you just have to accept the results for what they are, whether they’re amazing and incredible or a disappointment or anything in between.”
Earnhardt Jr. said that if Johnson can find the right balance this year, a feeling of innocence could return, allowing him to approach the year like a rookie driver just eager to be on the track.
“I didn’t run very good in my final year, but I don’t remember that,” Earnhardt said. “I remember it being fun and how much I enjoyed being around my guys, and I had a great time.”
***
Regardless of what happens, drivers agreed it will have only a little, if any, impact on Johnson’s legacy in the sport — unless, of course, he wins a record-breaking eighth championship.
Johnson and team owner Rick Hendrick at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2019. (Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports)
He’s unquestionably in the GOAT of NASCAR debate — even leading it, depending on who you ask — and he’s not done racing. Whether it’s in NASCAR, another top-level series or even on two wheels, Johnson has made it clear his retirement is simply from NASCAR’s exhausting full-time schedule, as he looks for “a better balance in life.”
Not winning a race or missing the playoffs again might be a “sour” ending for a seven-time champ, Burton said. But when Johnson and his career in NASCAR are memorialized years from now, that’s not what people will remember.
“I would [tell Johnson to] act however you want to act, say whatever you want to say, do whatever you want to do,” Patrick said.
“You didn’t arrive at this place where people are doing interviews about your last season because of anything other than you’re a legend and you’re a fantastic driver with pages of accomplishments. So this last season should purely be whatever you want it to be.”
NASCAR’s offseason is famously short, but these drivers took advantage.
NASCAR’s offseason is famously short, lasting from mid-November until early February. And with the Busch Clash at Daytona International Speedway, an exhibition race, on Sunday, that offseason is officially over as drivers and their teams prepare for the season-opening Daytona 500 on February 16.
From traveling to the mountains to islands to the Super Bowl, drivers took advantage of what little time they had off to relax and have some fun with their friends and families. And, of course, plenty of them got back behind the wheel for a few offseason races.
So before the 2020 NASCAR season officially begins, here’s a look back at the highlights of how some drivers enjoyed their offseasons.
Kyle Busch
The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champ had a busy offseason because in addition to celebrating his second title, he and his family, Samantha and their son Brexton, took a trip to Cabo San Lucas, and he competed in the Rolex 24 At Daytona (also known as the 24 Hours of Daytona).
Although it was a recent development, it’s possible nobody had a better weekend during the offseason than Clint Bowyer did over Super Bowl weekend. The diehard Kansas City Chiefs fan watched his team win the Super Bowl on Sunday over the San Francisco 49ers, and he documented his post-game celebrations on social media, thankfully.
Dale Jr. actually curated an exhibit at the NASCAR Hall of Fame called “Dale Jr.: Glory Road Champions,” which opened in early January and features 18 championship cars.
This week, the @NASCARHall officially opened @DaleJr: Glory Road Champions, a new exhibit curated by Earnhardt Jr. himself.
Amy Earnhardt and their daughter, Isla, also got cars of their own. According to Amy’s Instagram, Dale Jr. surprised her with a 1966 El Camino for Christmas, and Isla, who will be two years old in April, showed off her driving skills too.
Dale Jr. and his XFINITY Series team, JR Motorsports, also announced his one race for 2020 will be at Homestead-Miami Speedway in March.
Jimmie Johnson
Almost immediately after the 2019 season ended, the seven-time Cup Series champion announced that the 2020 season will be his last full-time schedule. So really, this was his last offseason going into his 19 Cup season, but it doesn’t seem like he did anything differently.
He spent a lot of time in Aspen on the ski slopes, and he and his oldest daughter, 9-year-old Evie, competed together and were part of the winning team in an amateur skiing competition. Johnson said competing with her was “a highlight of 2019”.
Like any other NASCAR offseason, Larson spent his time away from the Cup Series racing, and he crossed off a major bucket list accomplishment, winning his first Chili Bowl Nationals last month. It’s no secret that this was a huge goal of Larson’s, and his victory came a year after he lost a heartbreaker on the last lap.
“I’m sorry NASCAR, I’m sorry Daytona, but this is the biggest (expletive) race I’ve ever won,” Larson said, via NBC Sports. “I hope to win Daytona in a few weeks but this is bad ass.”
Brad Keselowski
Brad and Paige Keselowski’s family grew this offseason as they welcomed their second daughter, Autumn, to the world in December. The couple also have a 4-year-old daughter, Scarlett.
The defending Daytona 500 champ underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder as soon as the 2019 season ended. Unsurprisingly after his recovery, he spent some time on the golf course.
Blaney enjoyed the island life a little bit, jetting off to Turks And Caicos with friends, including Darrel “Bubba” Wallace Jr., William Byron and Daniel Hemric.
Finally getting around to this. Couldn’t ask for a better time with some good people down in Turks and Caicos. pic.twitter.com/DSB62TSaDa
Suárez finally locked down a full-time ride for the 2020 Cup Series season. After winning the 2016 XFINITY Series championship and splitting his first three Cup seasons between Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing, Suárez was replaced by Cole Custer in the No. 41 Ford. However, with only a few weeks remaining in the offseason, it was announced that he will drive the No. 96 Toyota for Gaunt Brothers Racing.
Thank you to our awesome fans for all your support. @Daniel_SuarezG is excited to hit the track at @DISupdates!
Dale Jr. understands the Carolina LB’s decision to retire early in his career.
It’s no surprise that retired NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. is fully supportive of Luke Kuechly’s decision to retire from playing in the NFL.
The Carolina Panthers linebacker announced Tuesday night through the team’s Twitter account that he is retiring after eight season in the league, which which included seven Pro Bowls, five First-Team All-Pro nods and being the 2013 Defensive Player of the Year and 2012 Defensive Rookie of the Year. But the 28-year-old player also suffered multiple concussions throughout his career and is making what he clearly feels is the best decision for his future.
Earnhardt gets that.
The 45-year-old driver retired from racing full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series at the end of the 2017 season. Although a concussion sidelined him for the second half of the 36-race season in 2016, he could have continued racing, but he wanted to walk away from the sport on his own terms.
Speaking to the media at the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Wednesday during an event for the “Dale Jr.: Glory Road Champions” exhibit, Earnhardt praised Kuechly’s early retirement decision. He shared similar feelings in August following quarterback Andrew Luck’s retirement announcement.
Dale Earnhardt Jr had a lot of positive words to say about Luke Kuechly and his retirement: pic.twitter.com/2nYy2JJrH3
“My feeling for Luke is relief. He had an amazing career, and obviously, I’m sure, he would have loved to play longer. But he’s made some amazing, great choices for himself and for his family and his future. And he feels strongly about that decision, and all you can do is support that.
“He’s gave everything he could when he was out on the field for the better of his team. If you listen to the comments from his coaches and the players that he’s played with, you understand exactly what kind of person he was and how supportive — how much of a teammate he was to the guys he played with. That speaks volumes.
“You just have to support his decision. You have to want to support his decision and [be] excited about his future and what he might do next and the next chapter for him. It’s gonna be positive and successful, you’d imagine, because of the type of person he is. And I think that, you know, when you get in those type of situations that he was in, you have to make some difficult choices, and I think he made the right one. I feel like a lot of people can learn from that. I think he set an amazing example for a lot of young folks to follow.”
Beyond his 2016 injury, Earnhardt has a long history with concussions. He estimates he suffered 20 to 25 concussions, many undiagnosed, throughout his NASCAR career, which spanned more than two decades.
