Dale Earnhardt Jr. Says That Richmond Race "May Be the Last Time I Race a Car"

It's been almost a year since Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- now a broadcaster for NBC -- raced competitively, having last gotten behind the wheel of his Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet in November 2017 for the Cup Series finale in Homestead, Florida. But on September 21, Dale Jr. will briefly come out of retirement to run a NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Richmond Raceway.

"I'm looking forward to it," Earnhardt said, according to NASCAR.com. "I didn't miss racing at the start of the year at all. I didn't miss driving much. When I got back to the broadcasting and started to really plug into what the races were like and what was going on, you see moments in the races that make you wish you were out there doing that. And so, I started to miss it a little bit."

"I like Richmond as a track. And it's a pretty straightforward little race track. We have had success there. I'm not really putting any expectations or pressure on myself as far as performance. I just want to go run and have fun."

I was and still am so proud of this race. @markmartin was extremely hard to beat. https://t.co/rLu7RRDWYt

— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) September 10, 2018

Set to be behind the wheel of a JR Motorsports Chevrolet at Richmond, Earnhardt said that this may be the last time he competes in a NASCAR race.

"It's the only time I'm going to race a car this year. And it may be the last time I race a car," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.

"I really don't know what our plans are going forward. I don't really have any initiative to drive a ton of races. So, we'll just kind of see what kind of opportunities there are down the road with the sponsorships and so forth that help the rest of the company. But, hopefully I get to run all the laps and just enjoy driving the car."

"The only reason you get behind the wheel of a race car is because it's fun and you enjoy the competition. Hopefully those are things that I get out of it and try not to get real competitive about it. I don't want to sweat over every lap and how fast we are in practice and all those things, and make it a miserable experience because most race car drivers tend to do that if you're not careful."