Photo by Allen Kee / ESPN Images(DARLINGTON, S.C.) — Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he’s doing better in his rehab from a concussion suffered earlier this year, but that sitting out the remainder of the NASCAR slate is the right decision for him.
Earnhardt has missed seven Sprint Cup races and announced Friday that he wouldn’t return in 2016. “I have the passion and the desire to drive,” he said Sunday at Darlington Raceway, “I enjoy it…my heart is there to continue, and if my doctor says I’m physically able to continue, that’s an easier decision for me to make.”
Earnhardt says he isn’t thinking about retirement, that his focus is only on getting better and getting back on the track.
The June crash in Michigan left Earnhardt with balance and vision issues associated with gaze stability.
“I definitely don’t belong in a race car today by any stretch of the imagination,” Earnhardt admitted. “You don’t know how long this process is going to take. We want to be healthy and be able to compete at some point…but we also don’t want to take any risks to reinjure ourselves or put ourselves in a situation where we essentially erase all the hard work we did to get better.”
The 41-year-old has 26 career wins in 595 Sprint Cup starts.
Jeff Gordon and Alex Bowman, who have combined to fill in for Earnhardt in the seven races he’s missed, will share the duties for the remaining 11 races.
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