DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Like a plaintive wail, the roar of racecars rumbled in the distance. Instead of driving one of them, speeding around Daytona International Speedway, Dale Earnhardt sat in the passenger seat of a golf cart, signing autographs.

“Whoooo-hoo!” one fan hollered, hopping away as he examined his newly signed hat.

Earnhardt autographed about a half-dozen other items deep inside the speedway’s infield before the man behind the wheel of the golf cart slowly leaned on the accelerator.

“Sorry,” he said. “Dale’s gotta go.”

As the cart whirred away, attention shifted back to Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400.

Sort of.

At any other race, an early exit from Earnhardt’s No. 88 car would not be too big a deal. But when the face of the sport announces that he is making his last go-round — literally and figuratively — as a Nascar driver, the spotlight tends to linger.