NASCAR Cup Series: Dale Earnhardt Jr. retires

HOMESTEAD, FL - NOVEMBER 18: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 AXALTA Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 18, 2017 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)
HOMESTEAD, FL - NOVEMBER 18: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 AXALTA Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 18, 2017 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images) /
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After 18 full-time NASCAR Cup Series seasons, fan favorite driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. has officially retired after announced his intent to do so in April.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., 43, has officially retired from full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition after announcing his intent to do so earlier this year in late April. The 14-time and likely soon-to-be 15-time defending Most Popular Driver Award winner has driven in the Cup Series since the 1999 season and has been a full-time driver since the 2000 season.

Earnhardt Jr., who hails from Kannapolis, North Carolina and is the son of the late seven-time Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt, was never able to capture a Cup Series championship of his own in his 18 full-time seasons in the sport. His highest finish in the standings was 3rd place in the 2003 season.

The sport’s most popular driver retires having driven in 631 career Cup Series races and winning 26 of them, including the 2004 and the 2014 Daytona 500 races. His most recent victory came in the November Phoenix just over two years ago. He also racked up 149 top 5 finishes and 260 top 10 finishes along with 15 poles, including two this season.

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Earnhardt Jr. also spent some time racing in the Xfinity Series. In his two seasons as a full-time driver in the series back in the 1998 and 1999 seasons, he won both championships and 13 races. Over the years, he has driven in a few Xfinity Series races each season. Of his 139 career starts in the series, 24 of them resulted in wins, 67 resulted in top 5 finishes and 91 resulted in top 10 finishes. He also took 10 poles in the series.

The 43-year-old announced back in late April that his retirement from the Cup Series would take place following the end of the 2017 season when the season concluded with the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Miami, the site of the Championship 4. Now that that race along with the whole 2017 Cup Series season are both in the books, Earnhardt Jr. is officially a NASCAR Cup Series retiree.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. leaves behind him a legacy in the NASCAR Cup Series as an ambassador for the sport. It will be interesting to see which driver becomes the sport’s most popular athlete in the 2018 season and beyond when Earnhardt Jr. is no longer a shoe-in to win the award. No driver not named Earnhardt Jr. has won the Most Popular Driver Award since the 2002 season.