Dale Earnhardt Jr. set to retire after 2017 season

Dale Earnhardt Jr. plans to retire after the 2017 season, Hendrick Motorsports announced Tuesday.

Earnhardt, the son of a NASCAR superstar, is 42 and has put together his own Hall of Fame career. Earnhardt has 26 wins in 603 starts, including Daytona 500 victories in 2004 and 2014 as well as 14 consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Most Popular Driver awards.

Earnhardt, who will turn 43 in October, made his first career Cup Series start on May 30, 1999, at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Since then, the Kannapolis, North Carolina, native has captured 26 points-paying Cup race wins and been voted by fans as NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver a record 14 consecutive years. He has qualified for the NASCAR playoffs eight times.

Now in the midst of his 18th full-time season at the elite Cup level, Earnhardt made his 600th career series start on March 26 at Fontana, California. He will compete in his final NASCAR Cup Series race on Nov. 19 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Earnhardt’s best finish in eight starts this season was fifth place at Texas Motor Speedway on April 9. He is ranked 24th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings.

Earlier this year, Earnhardt discussed the prospect of retirement, saying: “You’ve seen a lot of people, athletes retire in the past. It seems a very difficult statement to make, a very difficult press conference to have. But when I’m ready to do that, I’ll be making that decision knowing it’s the right thing to do.”

Hendrick Motorsports will announce plans for its 2018 team alignment at a later date.