Dale Earnhardt Jr. opens up about his mom’s surprising reaction to his retirement news

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has long lived under the shadow of his famous father, but on the day he announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2017 NASCAR season, the person that was much on his mind was his mom.

Brenda Jackson has long stayed away from the spotlight, only occasionally doing any sort of interviews with her now famous son, such as the one she did with Speed Channel in 2009.

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However, when it was time to tell the world about his retirement plans, Dale Jr. was worried about how his mom would react.

And like any good mom, she surprised him – big time.

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“Everyone seems to take the news a little differently based on what I have seen in the last 48 hours,” Dale Jr. said during his April 25 podcast that came out a few short hours after the announcement. “I thought my mom would cry, but she was completely at ease with it. I was like, ‘Wow. OK.” She said she was great with this. You just never know how people are going to react. You always assume one thing and they do the other. It’s been really emotional. There has been worry and sadness about how people would react to it.”