The current Cup Series field is filled with star drivers who are bound to retire within the next decade. From Joey Logano to Kyle Larson, none can be expected to be hanging around the garages after their 40s. But there was a time in this sport when it was completely natural for drivers to be racing even past their 50s and 60s, like it was the most logical thing to do.
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So, what has changed in NASCAR? Dale Earnhardt Jr. discussed this in a recent episode of the “Dale Jr. Download” podcast.
“Larson might go run dirt. Just say, ‘That was great. 20 years in the Cup Series. Awesome. I’m out.’ Chase Elliot, Blaney, Byron, why do we feel like that they won’t race till they’re 45 or 50 years old? I just think it’s the demand of the season. How long they are,” he said.
Due to the extensive demands of the schedule, Junior believes drivers today get to a point in their lives where they start thinking that they have had enough of being on the road. For instance, Logano might wake up one day and choose to go watch his kids race on the weekends or play football. Such family moments are ultimately going to take over the desire to race on Sundays.
He continued, “You’re missing key moments. You miss a lot if you have kids, right? Like, Joey’s missing tons of moments now. At some point, he’s going to go, ‘All right, I’m not missing this stuff. I’ve missed all of these years, and now the kids are older.’ They’re doing things in school, and different things are going on in their lives that he wants to be a witness to.”
Logano’s wish to follow the steps of Dale Jr. in retirement
Team Penske’s No. 22 driver is 35 years old now. It is going to be a while before he announces his retirement, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t given any thoughts about what he wants to do after it. Sure, he will be spending a lot of time with his family and making up for all the lost hours.
But the one other thing he wants to do is take up a career path that will allow him to give back to the sport that has given him so much. This is precisely what the likes of Jeff Gordon and Junior have done by taking up roles within the industry itself.
Logano said during his pre-race interview at Phoenix, “Post-racing, I’ll be involved. I’ll be around in some way because the people before me did that for me, and I should do that for the next generation.”
