More mature Dale Earnhardt Jr. ready for NASCAR return

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Aside from recovering from a particularly nasty concussion and learning more about his craft from outside a race car, something else happened to Dale Earnhardt Jr. during his time away from work.

NASCAR’s Peter Pan decided it finally was time to grow up.

“I’m 42 years old,” Earnhardt told azcentral sports Tuesday. “I can’t be a kid forever.”

Earnhardt, who was cleared by doctors to get back in the car after a stint at Darlington Raceway in December, was speaking between testing runs at Phoenix International Raceway in his No. 88 Chevrolet. He said it was his marriage to longtime girlfriend Amy Reimann on New Year’s Eve that made him see the light.

Actually, Amy made him see it. She’s changed his life, he said.

“She just helped me mature as a person,” Earnhardt said. “She showed me a lot of things that were important. She helped me sort some priorities out in my life and get some things in a row.

“I’ve still got a lot to learn, a lot of growing to do, but she’s a big part of that. She’s helped me accelerate my maturity and I really needed it. I had a lot of things that I needed to get to doing better.”

Earnhardt didn’t wish to elaborate other than to say, “Nobody’s perfect.”

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There’s still plenty of youthfulness in the jovial Junior, who is getting ready to embark on his 19th NASCAR Cup season after sitting out half of the 2016 campaign while suffering from issues related to his concussion. 

He keeps adding, for instance, new attractions to his 200-acre spread in Mooresville, N.C., which already includes an entire western town, a dirt go-kart track, a 66,000-square-foot race shop, a freshly built luxury treehouse and a massive race car graveyard.

But as his driving career winds down, there’s no mistaking that Earnhardt is making it his business to be more dutiful to the business. That’s why he isn't whining during his two days of testing here, something he’s disliked to do anywhere. It’s also why he didn’t overreact to the small brake fire in his car Tuesday morning.

After being forced to sit out for the longest time during a Cup career that began in 1999, Earnhardt absolutely was giddy to get behind the wheel for his first real action on a track. Oh sure, he took a few laps at Darlington Raceway to meet doctors’ approval, but this was different. You could tell by the country-wide smile on his red-bearded face.

“It’s great to be able to get on the track some, run some laps before the season starts, get to work with my guys again and kind of get in the groove,” he said. “It’s been a real good day so far and I’m looking forward to the season getting going. We’ve only got a few more weeks before we get after it big time (at Daytona).”

He plans to return at Daytona International Speedway in the Daytona 500 on Feb. 26 (Fox, 2 p.m. ET) for his first points-paying Cup race since early July.

Asked if it was an emotional moment or just another day at the track, Earnhardt said, “No, not really. Actually, I was just super happy, probably more so than usual. The guys were pumped. The day’s been going well, we’re learning some stuff and we’ve had good speed. … The car feels good and I felt great in the car.”

Dealing with ongoing concussion symptoms didn’t feel great at all. It’s been a long road back, Earnhardt said, and he used the time between the fog and the headaches to consider his future. And not just retirement.

“Yeah, you contemplate everything,” Earnhardt said. “You’ve got to do what’s right for your health and your body and make the best decision you can for yourself. It affects a lot more people than just you, though. You’ve got to make the right decision that’s going to be right for the long haul.”

One thing that helped was attending an October race at Dover, Del., where he watched from the pit box as four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, who had retired from racing in 2015, filled in behind the wheel. Alex Bowman split time with Gordon as Earnhardt’s replacement drivers. Watching that particular race in Dover, however, was an “out-of-body experience” to Earnhardt.

“It just really gave me a unique perspective on just being a fan and being a pair of eyes in the garage, getting out of the suit and seeing it from that vantage point and watching everybody operate,” he said. “It was just really impressive. You can’t see that when you’re actually in there doing it, when you’re in the middle of it. You just can’t really see how everything is moving all along, so I enjoyed it. It was fun.”

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Earnhardt said he’ll know when it’s time to retire when racing is no longer fun, when it takes too much effort to keep up with the schedule and be away from home for so long.

“I guess you show up and don’t enjoy it one day, I don’t know,” he said. “There’s been a lot of races where we didn’t end up where we wanted to and weren’t that fun because of circumstances. But you’re never just generally in the car not having fun, not enjoying it. Once that starts happening, I think you’ve got to think about doing something else.”

There’s always that humongous, fun treehouse in Mooresville if the former Peter Pan of NASCAR wants to be a kid again for a spell. That, or he can just drive through the woods and take a gander at his collection of wrecked race cars – those belonging to him and others from the racing world.

Which place does he like the best?

“The old race car junkyard is a lot of fun. It never gets old riding around looking at some of that stuff,” Earnhardt said. “You always see something new. There’s probably 60 to 80 out there in the woods on about 70 acres. The treehouse is great, though. It’s hard to beat that treehouse. I spent the night before my wedding up there by myself.”

Perfect place to be the day before a kid becomes a man.

McManaman writes for the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Follow him on Twitter @azbobbymac

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