Racing To The Finish

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s only authorized book revealing the inside track on his final year of racing and retirement from the driver’s seat.

“Time was running out on my charade. . . . My secrets were about to be exposed to the world.”

When NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. retired from professional stock car racing in 2017, he walked away as a healthy man. But for years he had worried that the worsening effects of multiple racing-related concussions would end not only his time on the track but also his ability to live a full and happy life.

Torn between a race-at-all-costs culture and the fear that something was terribly wrong, Earnhardt started keeping private notes about his escalating symptoms. They showed a vicious cycle: suffering injuries on Sunday, struggling through the week, then recovering in time to race again. For the first time he shares these notes and fully reveals the physical and emotional struggles he faced as he fought to close out his career on this own terms.

In this candid reflection Earnhardt opens up about his frustration with the slow recovery, his admiration for the woman who stood by him through it all, and his determination to share his own experience so others don’t have to suffer in silence. Steering his way to the final checkered flag of his storied career proved to be the most challenging race-and most rewarding finish-of his life.