NASCAR Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced today he will retire
from full-time racing after the 2017 season.

Earnhardt, 42, made his debut in NASCAR’s top series in 1999. He is a two-
time winner of the Daytona 500, and he has qualified for the NASCAR playoffs
eight times. Earnhardt’s 600th career start came March 26, soon after he
began his 18th full-time season.

The North Carolina-born driver missed most of the 2016 season after suffering
a concussion from a crash in June.

Even though he was sidelined for 18 races, Earnhardt was the second-highest
earner in NASCAR last year, according to the latest data from Forbes. During
a press conference today he stated, he wanted go out "on my own terms."
(FoxNews)

DALE EARNHARDT’S #3 GOODWRENCH 1989 CHEVROLET LUMINA RACE
CAR.

(FoxNews) – A Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet campaigned by the late
Dale Earnhardt sold Saturday for $220,000, including 10 percent buyer’s
premium, at the Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach Collector-Car Auction.

The familiar black No. 3 Chevrolet Lumina was raced by Earnhardt in 1989
and ’90, according to the auction listing. It was driven by Earnhardt to one
of his nine victories at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

In 1990, Earnhardt won nine races and the fourth of his seven championships
in what is now the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

The auction listing stated,“This NASCAR Cup Car comes with supporting
documentation from Crew Chief Kirk Shelmerdine, who personally inspected
the car and found it to be 100% true as raced by Dale Earnhardt,”

Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr. (April 29, 1951 – February 18, 2001)

Lee Petty #42 and Johnny Beauchamp #73 battle on the last lap
of the first Daytona 500.

Lee Arnold Petty  (March 14, 1914 – April 5, 2000)

Lee Petty’s 1959 Daytona 500 photo finish winning Oldsmobile.

The 1959 First Annual 500 Mile NASCAR International Sweepstakes at
Daytona (now known as the 1959 Inaugural Daytona 500) was the second
race of the 1959 NASCAR Grand National (now Monster Energy NASCAR
Cup Series) season. It was held on February 22, 1959, in front of 41,921
spectators. It was the first race held at the 2.5-mile (4.0 kilometer) Daytona
International Speedway. The Daytona 500 is regarded as the most important
and prestigious race on the NASCAR calendar. It is also the series’ first race
of the year. With the help of photographs and newsreel footage, Lee Petty,
the father of Richard Petty, was officially declared the winner by NASCAR
founder Bill France, Sr. .

JOHN BELMONT

Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr. (April 29, 1951 – February 18, 2001)

The crash that killed Dale Earnhardt (#3) in the 2001 Daytona 500.

Regarded as one of the most significant drivers in NASCAR history, Earnhardt
won a total of 76 Winston Cup races over the course of his career, including
the 1998 Daytona 500. He also won seven NASCAR Winston Cup
championships, tying for the most all-time with Richard Petty.

John Joseph Travolta is 63 years old today.

After dropping out of high school, Travolta moved to New York and landed a
role in a touring company’s production of Grease. He made his film debut as
John in the 1975 television movie The Tenth Level.

Mark Twain’s "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published
in the U.S. for the first time in 1885.

 
Samuel Langhorne Clemens
(November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910)

James Dennis Alan "Denny" Hamlin, 35.

RACE UPDATE: DENNY HAMLIN WINS THE DAYTONA 500 IN THE CLOSEST FINISH IN RACE HISTORY!