The longtime racing legend is finally opening up about when he’s getting behind the wheel and it’s a lot sooner than many people had though possible.
After enduring a serious concussion about halfway through the 2016 NASCAR season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was forced to pull himself from racing for the remainder and seek specialist medical care for his injury.
It was several crashes mid-summer that caused the injury and, as Dale Jr. later revealed, he was struggling with bouts of issues with stability and vision. Luckily he was able to work with some of the best doctors for such a condition and has been steadily improving his condition as months have gone on.
Following his announcement that he was withdrawing as driver of the No. 88 car for the rest of the season, teammate Alex Bowman stepped up to take his spot along with Jeff Gordon coming out of retirement to lend a helping had during a few races.
Now, Dale Jr. is talking about his highly-anticipated return to the track at Wrangler Jeans’ “Jeansboro Day” celebration – a company for which he’s also a spokesman.
“…I’m starting to feel real good, starting to be able to get out and enjoy some things and be myself. I miss being in the car, but we have every expectation of being in the race car come February for the Daytona 500,” the racing star revealed at the event.
While it’s taken a long time for him to recover, he reveals that the only reason for caution at this point is to make sure everything is good and to ensure a full recovery.
“These are some of the best people in the country at working on concussions and head injuries today, so I felt real comfortable about going up there and getting looked at. They’ve been working with me, and I’ve been up there several times since for more evaluations. I’ve seen a lot of progress in the treatment that they gave me, and it’s been a really interesting experience.”
What do y’all think about Dale Jr.’s return to the track in 2017??
Watch the video below where he talks about his concussions and addresses questions on retirement.