Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s just authorized book revealing the inside track on his final 12 months of racing and retirement from your driver’s seat.

“Time was jogging out on my charade… My secrets were going to come in contact with the world.”

It was a seemingly small crash in Michigan International Speedway in June 2016 that ended your day early for Dale Earnhardt Jr. What he didn’t understand was that it would also end his driving for the year. He’d dealt with concussions before, but concussions are like snowflakes, no about Racing to the final: My Tale two are the same. And recovery can be brutal, and extended.

When NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. retired from professional share car racing in 2017, he strolled away from his career as a healthy man. But for years, he had worried which the worsening effects of multiple racing-related concussions would end not merely his time around the monitor but his capability to live a full and happy existence.

Torn between a race-at-all-costs culture and the fear that something was terribly wrong, Earnhardt tried to pretend that everything was good, but the personal notes about his escalating symptoms that he continued his phone reveal a vicious cycle: suffering injuries on Weekend, struggling through the week, then recovering in time to competition again the next weekend. For the first time, he shares these records and fully reveals the physical and emotional struggles he faced as he fought to close out his career on his own terms.

Within this candid reflection, Earnhardt opens up about his frustration with the slow recovery, his admiration for the girl who stood by him through it all, and his determination to talk about his own experience in order that others don’t need to suffer alone. Steering his way to the ultimate checkered flag of his storied career proved to be the most challenging race & most rewarding surface finish of his life.