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Global
Interview

Dale Jr.'s sister Kelley reflects on their journey together

Kelley Earnhardt Miller has been Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s biggest advocate for as long as he can remember.

JR Motorsports press conference: Kelley Earnhardt

JR Motorsports press conference: Kelley Earnhardt

Eric Gilbert

JR Motorsports press conference: Kelley Earnhardt
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Brand and Advertising Officer John Aman introduces a new television ad with Kelley Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
JR Motorsports co-owner and general manager Kelley Earnhardt answers a question Thursday Thursday at JR Motorsports in Mooresville, N.C. as No. 7 NASCAR Nationwide Series GoDaddy.com Chevrolet driver Danica Patrick and JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhar
NASCAR Nationwide Series champion driver Chase Elliott with owners Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kelley Earnhardt, Rick Hendrick, crew chief Greg Ives
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

She protected Junior through the trials of childhood and supported him through their parents’ divorce. In her teens, Kelley enrolled in military school to shepherd her younger brother through the ranks.

As if the bond couldn’t be tighter, the siblings shared the loss of their father in the 2001 Daytona 500. When Earnhardt set JR Motorsports in motion, he recruited his sister as a key partner in the organization.

So it’s not surprising that she shared another milestone with her brother when he announced his Cup retirement at the end of the 2017 season.

“Yesterday, I was pretty spent after a long day and a lot of emotions in the weeks preparing for yesterday and finally being able to put that news out,” Earnhardt Miller said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Wednesday.

“I wasn’t very emotional until yesterday — hearing all the different comments and what runs through your mind of the career, and your family and my dad, and all those good things.”

Like most race fans, it will take Earnhardt Miller time to get accustomed to a NASCAR without an Earnhardt competing at the sport’s top level. It’s all she’s ever known.

“When he was out last year, it was just strange,” Earnhardt Miller said. “We told our little boy Wyatt last night that Uncle Junior was retiring and he said, ‘Aw, who’s going to be our guy?’ I said, ‘I don’t know who is going to be our guy.’”

One thing she is certain of, however, is “there’s a lot of opportunities.”

“NASCAR, and or the race fans, haven’t seen the last of Dale Jr,” Earnhardt Miller said. “As a team owner, he’ll continue to have a voice in the sport, a say in the sport, and he’s really excited about that.

“He’s excited about being involved from the standpoint of maybe physically more, to be involved in meetings and different things we have going on, because I’ve pretty much ran this operation since we’ve been in existence. He’ll be a lot more involved in those conversations.”

Business as usual

Earnhardt Miller believes Junior’s retirement should have no affect on JRM, other than her brother taking on a more active role. The company has three of four drivers already signed for 2018. Earnhardt will also run at least two races for the company in the Xfinity Series. He’ll be able to work on projects — TV and other media — that he didn't have time to schedule during his driving days.

Before the NASCAR season started, Earnhardt Miller re-organized JR Motorsports to include a special team dedicated to Junior’s brand. Earnhardt Miller, along with Mike Davis, Director of Communications, and Tony Mayhoff, Director of Brand Marketing & Partnerships, discussed how Junior envisioned his retirement — or life after racing.

“We all knew going into the season that he didn’t know what he wanted to do,” Earnhardt Miller said. “He wanted to get back in the car. He had been out six months the year before. It was sort of a final conversation because we’d been having a lot conversations. We’d go back to him with a lot of questions: ‘Did you think about this? Did we think about this?

“But in all honesty, we had to face that when he had his concussion. There were weeks there that Dale was like, ‘I’m not going to be able to get back in the car.’ So there was a lot of thought and planning that went into the thing that you have to look at — your sponsors, your future business. When he came and finally said, ‘I’m ready to talk to Mr. Hendrick,’ we were like, ‘OK, what do you need from us?’

Guarding the news

Given that the announcement had been in the works since March 29, Earnhardt Miller admits it was difficult to guard the news. But both JRM and Hendrick Motorsports needed ample time to work out the logistics and develop a program befitting NASCAR’s Most Popular driver.

“What’s difficult is when you know something like that is you’re continuing to have conversations with people that don’t know,” Earnhardt Miller said. “You’re having conversations about things that you know might go a little differently or you might have different answers for when the news comes out. We continued to have those conversations.

“Dale, he wears his emotions on his sleeve. He’s always so honest and truthful — and I’m the same way, so it’s hard to have yourself in this situation when you have this little cloud popping up in your head that’s like, ‘Ok, this whole conversation is going to be different in a few weeks.’ That’s really hard, but we got through it.”

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