CONCORD, N.C. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. won’t be on the track next month at Watkins Glen International, but his signature gloves certainly will be.
Once again this year, The Dale Jr. Foundation’s “Driven to Give Gloves” campaign will support Nationwide Children’s Hospital. But instead of Earnhardt donning the skeleton-themed gloves, 32 NASCAR Cup Series drivers – and the four JR Motorsports NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers – will instead.
Among those drivers are all four Hendrick Motorsports teammates.
“We’ve done a lot with the ‘Gloves’ program through the years at The Dale Jr. Foundation, but this year we wanted to open it up to more people,” said Earnhardt Jr. of the program. “To have 32 of my former competitors and all four of our JR Motorsports’ drivers sign on to this to help the Nationwide Children’s Hospital continue the life-saving work they do there is impressive, and I can’t thank them all enough. Nationwide Children’s Hospital is a huge part of the work we do at the foundation.”
Over the past two seasons, the “Driven to Give Gloves” program has raised more than $100,000 for the hospital.
Each pair of gloves will be autographed by the driver wearing them and put up for auction on Aug. 8.
The funds will benefit the Dale and Amy Earnhardt Fund at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, supporting patients and their families in pediatric injury rehabilitation, research and prevention.
The fund began last year with an $88,888.88 donation from The Dale Jr. Foundation.
In addition to donning the special gloves at Watkins Glen, Alex Bowman will also pilot a special No. 88 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, and a patient champion, Bricen Thall, will be a special guest along with his family at the race.