Dale Earnhardt Jr., wife Amy expecting baby girl

TALLADEGA, AL - OCTOBER 15: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Mountain Dew Chevrolet, prepares to drive during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on October 15, 2017 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /

Though Junior’s first child won’t be Dale Earnhardt III, maybe she’ll still decide to keep up the family tradition …

While Dale Earnhardt Jr. transitions from the track to the broadcast booth for the 2018 NASCAR season, he’ll also be taking on an even bigger and important role for the first time: that of a father.

Junior took to his Instagram account on Monday to announce that he and wife Amy were expecting their first child together, a daughter.

Even better, apparently fellow NASCAR driver Landon Cassill already knew it. Sort of.

So @landoncassill text me Sept 4th. We had just learned we were expecting 3 days before this. Hard keeping that truth from him till today. pic.twitter.com/jFWZsmp0v4
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) October 16, 2017

Psychic dreams aside, Twitter quickly filled up with congratulations for the Earnhardts from various corners of the NASCAR world.

Congratulations @DaleJr and @AmyEarnhardt on the exciting news!

👶🏼🎀: https://t.co/vDRRxv1c8t pic.twitter.com/6Vmuedx1fB
— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) October 16, 2017

Congratulations to @DaleJr and @AmyEarnhardt. Let the good times begin!!!! 👋
— Clint Bowyer (@ClintBowyer) October 16, 2017

Looks like @DaleJr took the restrictor plate off. Congrats to him and @AmyEarnhardt. #NASCAR
— Ɱɪ̈kɛ̃ ℂąL!йofƒ (@MikeCalinoff) October 16, 2017

So happy for @DaleJr and @AmyEarnhardt! So excited for them to feel that feeling you can’t explain until you have kids.
— tj majors (@Tjmajors) October 16, 2017

Naturally, there were a few fans that expressed some disappointment that there wouldn’t be a Dale Earnhardt III arriving in the near future. Racing tradition and all.

Next: Dale Jr.'s final Talladega race is a ratings hit

But who’s to say Baby Earnhardt won’t follow in the family business anyway? Racing certainly courses through the veins of the entire Earnhardt clan, regardless of age, gender, etc.

The only bummer is that Junior’s daughter won’t ever get to see him do his thing on the track. But while he’s retiring from full-time Cup Series competition, he still has some more XFINITY Series races to run. Here’s hoping his girl gets to one of them in the years to come, and all the best to Dale and Amy.

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