When Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced two weeks ago that 2017 would be his final NASCAR Cup season, many speculated about the future of the sport without its most popular star.
That popularity has increased the last few years since he became active on social media after winning the 2014 Daytona 500.
"By the end of my career, thanks in large part to social media, I've really gained a new appreciation for [my fans'] dedication, their enthusiasm when we succeed, and their encouragement when we fall short of our goals," Earnhardt said at his April 25 announcement that he would retire after this season.
Just how valuable is Earnhardt? And how impressive is his social media presence? The social media valuation company Hookit came out with new data this month. The company uses social media interactions (likes, shares, comments) and video views (of at least three seconds on Twitter/Instagram or 15 seconds on YouTube) to determine an athlete's social media worth and popularity.
From Tuesday to Friday of the week he announced on a Tuesday that 2017 would be his last year, interactions on his announcement -- based on posts from his network and six different hashtags -- reached 1.78 million.
He has gained 396,382 new followers this year (including 238,227 on Twitter) through April 31, and overall he has had 34.7 million interactions and views -- more than 30 million more than the next top driver (Jimmie Johnson).
Following Earnhardt and Johnson on Hookit's interactions/views list were Danica Patrick, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott.
Only Logano and Elliott are under age 30.
"In my history of being around the sport, there's kind of always been these little gaps in between everything that cycles, whether it's fashion or drivers or cars or whatever," Earnhardt said last month. "It never really is a seamless transition from one to the next."
According to Hookit, Earnhardt has had more interactions and views on his posts than all other NASCAR drivers combined so far this year. His social media value from Feb. 23 to March 1 (the Daytona 500 was Feb. 26) was 86.4 percent of the earned value of all drivers -- boosted by the NASCAR-produced video of his father, set to music by the Zac Brown Band. For 2016, he had a 32.2 percent piece of the social media value pie.
Hookit determined Earnhardt's 2017 earned social media value for sponsors at $21.8 million -- $1.8 million through Twitter, $4.6 million through Instagram and $15.4 million through Facebook. Earnhardt has 5.6 million social media followers on Facebook (more than 3 million), Twitter (more than 2 million) and Instagram (nearly 500,000).
Earnhardt believes there will be drivers to take his place. Plus, he's not going away and will continue to bring value to sponsors.
"I think that these guys that are coming in, they're really sharp and smart about how to utilize social media, how to engage with fans," Earnhardt said. "You see the stuff that [Ryan] Blaney and Bubba [Wallace] do, and they're not afraid to really show their personalities.
"That's completely different than any of us older guys. We've never been like that. So this is a new batch of guys that are going to do things in a new way. They're going to bring a lot of color and excitement and energy to the sport. We've just got to get them in front of the fans, let the fans get to know them, and I think the rest will take care of itself."
NASCAR has attempted to get young drivers in front of fans through initiatives such as its NASCAR Next program, where it gives select drivers from its regional circuits training on how to handle the media spotlight. NASCAR also took four of its biggest and youngest Cup stars -- Elliott, Blaney, Erik Jones and Kyle Larson -- to New York City last week to try to increase their exposure.
"You certainly never want to lose a superstar," NASCAR executive vice president Steve O'Donnell said. "Dale Jr. is not going away. ... The future is bright with a lot of the young stars coming up in the sport."
NASCAR has limited drivers with more than five years' experience to 10 Xfinity races a season, something that will give young drivers and Cup drivers with less experience a chance to win more often in the developmental series.
"We want drivers exposed to winning," O'Donnell said. "They're interviewed more and people get to see their personalities. ... As they win and compete for top-5s and [are] exposed more [in Cup and Xfinity], we have no doubt that people will see their personalities."