NASCAR: Dale Jr. Talks Retirement And Contract Extensions
On Friday Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke with the NASCAR media at Watkins Glen, making his first public comments since he began the road to recovery from his concussion.
Since Earnhardt Jr. missed his first NASCAR race due to concussion-like symptoms, Earnhardt has spoken via his weekly podcast but he has not spoken in an open media forum. On Friday ahead of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at Watkins Glen, Earnhardt spoke to the NASCAR media about his concussion, his recovery, his return and everything in between.
Like he did in his podcast updates, Earnhardt preached patience. He spoke about how he is confident in what his doctors are doing and he stressed that this is going to take time and that nobody is going to rush along the process. To close the media session Earnhardt Jr. was asked about his career from a retrospective aspect, although the r-word was not used, it was clear what the question was alluding to.
"I’m surprised I’ve missed this many races and it’s taken this long. I didn’t think (at first) it was this serious. From the onset of this it was ‘man, it will go away in a couple of weeks. I might miss a race or two.’I have every intention of honoring my current contract (with HMS). I actually sat down with Rick (Hendrick) a couple of months before all of this happened to talk about an extension, and that’s the direction I want to go in. I’m not ready to stop racing. I’m not ready to quit."
From the beginning Earnhardt Jr. has been adamant that he wants to return to the car this season. On Friday he made it clear that he not only wants to return this season, but he plans on racing long after that as well.
Some NASCAR fans (myself included) have speculated that Earnhardt Jr. might leave HMS once his current deal is up. After all, Earnhardt has gone on record saying he wants to end his career running in a car for his own team, JR Motorsports. Given his age and that desire, it just seemed natural for that transition to start in a couple of season.
However, his comment about a contract extension with HMS has to make you believe that he is not looking to step away from the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series any time in the near future. That news will most likely come to the delight of Junior Nation who has missed their favorite driver as he continues to recover from his most recent concussion.
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On Sunday it will once again be Jeff Gordon in the No. 88 machine, Gordon will also race two weeks from now in Bristol for Earnhardt. The hope then is that after Bristol Earnhardt might be cleared to get back into the car in Michigan. Should that happen, Earnhardt will most likely need a win if he is going to make the 2016 NASCAR Chase.
In the meantime, Gordon will look to push some momentum towards the No. 88 team by trying to run well over the next few weeks.