Dale Earnhardt Jr recalls when he knew it was time to retire from NASCAR

Dale Earnhardt Jr is in a special class of athlete who knew when to get out before it was too late.

A time-honored tradition in sports involved legendary athletes not knowing when to hang it up. Brett Favre is the most famous example of this in recent memory but he isn’t the only example of this phenomenon.

It takes a lot to realize you don’t have it the way you used to, so who could be surprised that one of the most humble athletes ever knew exactly when it was his time. Dale Earnhardt Jr retired from full-time racing a year ago and his reasoning is classic humble Junior.

“There was a driver behind me, Alex Bowman, who was working his guts out for years to get that opportunity to drive that car,” Junior told FanSided’s Mark Carman. “I’d never want to take away someone else’s opportunity that I feel like deserves it. He had the hunger, the passion, I was a veteran and aged.”

For all the talk about veterans not helping our rookies who are going to eventually and inevitably replace them, this is a refreshing reminder that not everyone holds on too long.

Junior is enjoying his retirement and will be in Las Vegas Thursday to share his NASCAR playoff predictions and tell fans how they can have a chance to win full-access tickets to next year’s Daytona 500 and a ride in the iconic Goodyear Blimp via Goodyear’s Burnout Sweepstakes.

He still races once a year but says there are no plans to get back into it full-time.

“About halfway through that race, I start to remember why I retired.”

Humble to the very end, and we wouldn’t expect anything less from one of NASCAR’s greatest.