Dale Earnhardt Jr., your work is done.Long ago, you escaped the enormous shadow of your father.Lately, youve ensured an important legacy all your own by raising a caution flag on head injuries in NASCAR.Now, its time to seriously consider walking away.For good.Earnhardt is already sitting out the rest of 2016 to deal with the lingering effects of yet another concussion, but he made it clear that he hopes to be back behind the wheel next February for the season-opening Daytona 500.My heart is there to continue, he said Sunday at Darlington Raceway. And if my doctor says that Im physically able to continue, then thats an easier decision for me to make. Its not something that I think about. Were trying to focus on just getting well and getting normal.Theres no doubt that NASCAR will be rooting for his recovery, given the sports dwindling television ratings and ever-increasing number of empty seats at the tracks.Earnhardt remains the sports most popular driver, and to have him walk away would be a huge blow given the reluctance of the fan base to embrace a new generation of stars.But Junior cant worry about any of that.Hes got bigger issues to consider.Earnhardt should give a hard look at all those former giants of the NFL whose brains were addled by one brutal hit after another, who died far too young or lived out their years in the cruel isolation of dementia.No one knows for sure what another hard crash would do to Earnhardts brain.He might be fine. He might not be.There are different levels of concussion. There are individual differences. The age the concussion occurs plays a part, said Dr. Katherine Dec, a professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine who specializes in sports-related concussions.Wed all love to have an easy answer, she added. Thats what everyone wants to know, something that makes the decision kind of black and white. But the brain is a miraculous thing. There are still a lot of things we dont know.We know that Earnhardt, at the very least, had two concussions about six weeks apart in 2012, which was the wakeup call that everyone in NASCAR needed to address an issue that had long been swept under the rug. Junior sat out two races that year and sought out concussion experts to get the lowdown on potential problems down the road.He became the most vocal advocate for brain safety, prompting NASCAR to mandate that all national series drivers undergo preseason neurocognitive baseline testing as part of a comprehensive concussion program. He also joined a growing list of athletes by saying he would donate his brain to science after his death, so it can be studied for signs of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.That will go down as Earnhardts most lasting impact on the sport, far more important than his two Daytona 500 victories or those other 24 career wins, or even the impressive feat of making a name for himself in a sport still dominated by the towering presence of his late father, a seven-time Cup champion.Junior certainly sent the right message again when he stepped out of the car after another hard crash at Michigan this summer. He actually managed to compete in the next three races before the concussion symptoms cropped up again. He had missed six races before announcing Friday he was done for the year, meaning hell miss the final 18 events of 2016.Dr. Raj K. Narayan, the head of neurosurgery at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, New York, and LIJ Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York, said its impossible for those on the outside to know exactly what Earnhardt is going through.But there are some common-sense aspects that should be taken into account when dealing with any head injury.The science has not gotten to the point yet where we can accurately qualify the amount of brain damage that already occurred, except to say that the more times you get injured and the more injuries you have, it makes total sense that it is likely to affect you more, he said. I think its quite clear that repeated, multiple injuries increase your risk of becoming demented with the passage of time.Of course, it was probably a lot easier for Earnhardt to make peace with sitting out the rest of the year than it would be for him to call it a career, given his potential -- if healthy -- to race at a high level for several more seasons. He had three victories in 2015, four the previous year. While Earnhardt has never won a season championship, hes been a perennial Chase contender.Lets just hope when Earnhardt sits down with his doctors, when he talks this over with his family and closest friends, he errs on the side of caution.Hes already done so much for the sport.Hes certainly made his daddy proud.He deserves to live a long, healthy life.---Paul Newberry is a national writer for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry(at)ap.org or at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry . Wholesale MLB Jerseys China . DAmigo scored twice in regulation and added the shootout winner as the Toronto Marlies edged the San Antonio Rampage 5-4 in American Hockey League action. 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WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. -- Mickey Loomis expressed a little disappointment but zero panic over the fact that the New Orleans Saints havent been able to work out a long-term contract extension with quarterback?Drew Brees this offseason.The Saints general manager confirmed what Brees told ESPN over the weekend -- that we havent made any progress, Loomis said Wednesday. But, he added, I dont see it being a distraction.Look, lots of players play into the last year of their contract. It happened last time with us [before Brees was franchised in 2012], Loomis said. Its not our preference, but look, it happens. Nothing unusual here.Brees said the two sides havent even talked for the past three months. When Loomis was asked if he expects negotiations to resume or get shelved until after the season, he said, I dont know.I guess I would always hope that we would have a deal done, but we dont. And look, Im available. My phone is on the hook and ready to be rungg, said Loomis, who was then asked if he would like to have a deal done by the start of the regular season.ddddddddddddWell, I think Drew has said thats his deadline. So thats fine, Loomis said, referring to Brees insistence that he wont negotiate anymore once the regular season begins.Loomis acknowledged that Brees is one of the top quarterbacks in the league and is paid as such -- and we expect to do that. But its the finer points that get tricky.Guaranteed money could be the biggest issue. If Brees signs a deal that matches the going rate for elite quarterbacks, those guarantees could lock him up until he is 39 or 40 years old.But when pressed on that issue, Loomis declined to get into specifics.You know, I dont want to get into any of the details of that; thats not my style, Loomis said. So I think Ive said enough, really. ' ' '