NASCAR Buy or Sell: Retire the No. 88 With Dale Earnhardt Jr.?

With Dale Earnhardt Jr. set to retire at the end of the season, should anyone be able to drive the No. 88 beyond 2017?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is one of the most beloved drivers in the history of NASCAR. Every time one of the top athletes in any given sport retires, the discussion of retiring their number arises. No Chicago Bull will ever wear Michael Jordan’s number 23. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say no New England Patriot will ever wear the number 12 when Tom Brady leaves the game. So should NASCAR and/or Rick Hendrick, owner of the No. 88, retire Dale Jr.’s number after this season?

May 25, 2017; Concord, NC, USA; Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) during qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports /

The No. 88 should be retired when Dale Earnhardt Jr. steps away: SELL

I have seen fans debate this on social media often. JR Nation is extremely loyal to their beloved Dale Earnhardt Jr. There are plenty of fans who feel no one should ever drive the No. 88 again. Due to Dale Jr.’s popularity over the years, those fans have an argument. But the fact is, NASCAR does not retire numbers. It is a part of why NASCAR is special.

If NASCAR decided to start retiring numbers, many current drivers in the field on Sundays would have to change their numbers. And where would they draw the line? Chase Elliott currently drives the No. 24 made famous by Jeff Gordon and his four series championships. Tony Stewart drove to two championships in the No. 20 and one more in the No. 14. Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip both won three championships each driving the No. 11. Let’s not even get started with Dale Earnhardt and his No. 3 being brought back. But the list of great drivers and iconic numbers is much longer and keeps growing.

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Has Dale Jr. even done enough to start this conversation? I am not trying to knock him. He has been one of the most popular drivers this sport has ever seen and has put together a solid career. His 26 wins (hopefully adding to this total) ranks him 29th in the history of the sport. There are six active drivers (five of them being previous series champions) that are higher on that list. As great as they all are, none of them will have their number retired.

There is no doubt that Dale Jr. has been extremely valuable to this sport. Everyone in the NASCAR community will miss seeing him in the No. 88 car each week. But we will have the opportunity to see someone else carry on the No. 88 torch. It may be a hot young name taking over that we can watch grow with a championship-caliber team. Maybe it’ll be a veteran looking for a change of scenery. Either way, there will be someone else in that car next year because the beautiful thing about NASCAR is when one great driver steps away, a new hungry competitor gets the chance to win us over by building off of a legacy left behind within a number.

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Be sure to let us now what you think should happen with the No. 88 in the comments and on Twitter @Beyond_The_Flag! If you think you have a hot topic for next week’s edition of Buy or Sell, let me know on Twitter @T_Grasso11 with the topic and include #BuyorSellBTF and your tweet may be featured!

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