Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he isn't thinking retirement, plans to return

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – His fiancee was away from home this weekend and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was bored. Bored and “super anxious,” he said, to return to a racetrack after missing the past three Sprint Cup events suffering from what he now openly calls a concussion.

Earnhardt said a crash at Michigan International Speedway in June brought on the current symptoms he is battling.

So NASCAR’s most popular driver visited Watkins Glen International - marking his fourth Cup race out of the car - for his first news conference since recusing himself from the No. 88 Chevrolet before the July 17 race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. And he stated emphatically, at times as if trying to convince those around him of what he has convinced himself: that his “gaze stability” and balance symptoms eventually will subside and that he will emerge stronger and resume a career in which he has won 26 Cup races, the Daytona 500 twice, two Xfinity Series championships, became wealthy and basked in the adoration of a generation of fans.

There is the sense that he believes that encompasses a fine career. A Hall of Fame career. But he’s just not ready to call it a career.

And so Earnhardt spoke about the resumption of it in terms of “when” and not “if.” Just like the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sports Medicine Concussion Program neurologists with whom he consults on a near daily basis.

Retirement talk is not in the picture.

“He is not a counselor or a psychologist,” Earnhardt said, his voice raising until he stumbled on pronouncing psychologist, then chuckled. “That is not his profession. So he is just telling me do this treatment, take these medications, do this every day and, ‘I promise you we are going to get you right.’ And that is not the conversation (retirement) you are going to have in the middle of treatment with someone who is suffering or someone who is going through that process.

“The conversations I have had with him is that he believes we are going to fix it. He believes that he can make me stronger and that I will be able to pick up where I left off.”

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Earnhardt’s days are filled with upwards of three hours of mental and physical work – “I am doing these exercises to sort of retrain the brain to fix the issues that I have with the balance and to gain stability,” he said – and is encouraged to increase outside stimulus that stoke his symptoms “haywire.”

“(Doctors) want me to push the symptoms so my body gets used to them and they become suppressed and then it’s no longer an issue,” he said.

Having lunch at sister Kelley’s house and interacting with her children, he joked, has been good for that. So was coming to Watkins Glen - with Amy Reimann out of town - where he spent much of the morning before practice thanking his crew for its diligence in his absence. Earnhardt elected to leave Friday and not hang around for qualifying Saturday or Sunday's race (2:30 p.m. ET, USA).

Though Earnhardt seems to be trying hard to suppress the stress that would come with his career mortality, the 41-year-old seems cognizant of what lies beyond NASCAR.

“It’s hard because you basically put yourself out there to be pulled out of the car, but man, your quality of life is so important,” he said. “Your health beyond your driving career is so important. If you plan on having a family, or have a family already, those things are going to be a priority.”

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Jeff Gordon will replace Earnhardt for the third consecutive weekend at Watkins Glen and again at Bristol Motor Speedway on Aug. 20.

Earnhardt said he speaks with his doctors numerous times a week but they will wait until he is symptom-free to create a timeline for his return. He said the exercises he’s currently undertaking will help prevent further injury. Studies have shown that less brain trauma is required to cause injury in subsequent incidents.

“My doctors feel great about the opportunity that I will not only be healthy again, but they can actually make my brain stronger to be able to withstand these common events,” he said. “The event that I had at Michigan which they have tied this concussion to I shouldn’t have had a concussion from. I should be able to get through events like that without having any issues.  So, they are not only working to get me healed up, but are working to make it to where I can compete and go through events like that without any concern.”

Hendrick Motorsports general manager Doug Duchardt said there is no team contingency beyond Gordon’s scheduled start at Bristol after an idle week. He would not speculate on potential contingencies stretching into 2017 and did not know how long Gordon would be willing to substitute. Alex Bowman drove for Earnhardt at New Hampshire.

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“(Gordon is) talking with (team owner) Rick (Hendrick) about that, but I think we're all just taking a step back and letting Junior's process work, and if we have to step in and make a decision we will after the next appointment,” Duchardt said. “But right now, we're just going to wait and see what the future holds with Junior's next appointment.”

Earnhardt said he intends to honor his contract, once cleared by doctors and NASCAR. His deal at Hendrick Motorsports ends after the 2017 season.

“I think he and Rick had started conversations about past ’17,” Duchardt said. “I think really what’s on hold is just getting his health back and then, there’s no question, our feelings for Dale and, I think, his feelings for us and I think when the time is right we’ll address all that. But right now I think the number one focus is getting him feeling better.”

And then, Earnhardt said, he will return.

“I am confident and positive,” he said, “that they tell me without question that we are going to get back to normal.”

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