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NASCAR Might Run Its First Daytona 500 In 40 Years Without An Earnhardt

This article is more than 6 years old.

A stock-car driver who mostly ran at the back of the pack unexpectedly lost his ride this week after his first full season at NASCAR’s top level, and that might not seem like all that big of a deal until you take notice of his last name. Then the transaction carries real historical significance.

Jeffrey Earnhardt, 28, the grandson of the legendary seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt Sr. and the nephew of the recently retired and immensely popular Dale Earnhardt Jr., was booted to the curb when the partners who owned his race team decided to split.

Jeffrey Earnhardt, whose father, Kerry, is Dale Jr.’s half-brother, hardly tore it up in the No. 33 Chevrolet with Circle Sport-TMG last season. His average starting position in 34 races was 36th, and his average finish was 33rd. His best finish was a pair of 26th-place finishes, including the Daytona 500.

He tweeted this when he learned of the news: “Well this comes as a shock to me just as much as everyone else but hey like your parents always tell u don’t cry over spilt milk one door closes for another to open so let’s see what’s behind this door.”

It is impossible not to admire Earnhardt because he has insisted from the very beginning on relying on his talent, not his famous last name. He has often referred to his mission as “Earning Earnhardt.” He’d even found a sponsor, Hulu, the video-on-demand service, and was determined to carry on the Earnhardt name.

After he found out he was sent packing, he got a tweet of support from ol’ Uncle Junior: “Hopefully @hulu stays with this kid. If they paired with  @Team_FRM or someone like that it would be a solid union.” (He was referring to Front Row Motorsports, a NASCAR team with more traction than Circle Sport-TMG.)

In an article posted on his website, Jeffrey Earnhardt said: “I’m speaking with one team in particular that would be a major upgrade from anything I’ve done in the past, and if all goes well, it would probably bring a smile to all the Earnhardt race fans out there.”

He did not say which team that was. But he has a sense of urgency to land a sponsor and a ride: The 2018 season opener, the Daytona 500, is less than 10 weeks away. With Dale Jr. retiring, Jeffrey Earnhardt was looking forward to being the lone family member on the track.

There has not been a Daytona 500 without an Earnhardt since 1978. Dale Sr. ran every year at the Daytona 500 from 1979 to 2001, when he was killed on the last lap of the race. (He won stock-car racing’s most famous event just once, in 1998.)

Dale Jr., who finished second to teammate Michael Waltrip on the day his father died, won the Daytona 500 in 2004 and 2014 and started from the pole position in 2011 (when he crashed and finished 24th). Dale Jr. always seemed to have a speedy car at Daytona.

Moreover, Ralph Earnhardt, Dale Sr.’s father and Jeffrey’s great-grandfather, ran in the Daytona 500 in 1962, 1963 and 1964, winning all of $1,000 for finishing 19th in his last race in a Ford sponsored by Jimmy Rivers Body & Paint Shop. Earnhardts have been at Daytona forever!

Now there might not even be one in the race. When the team split, Jeffrey Earnhardt lost the contract extension he’d signed in October.

He’d started his career driving a four-cylinder Yugo at a dirt track in a place actually called Rural Retreat, Va., hoping to earn his way to the big time.

This Earnhardt earned it, and it was not easy. So don’t count him out yet.