It will be 232 days since Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in a Cup race when he wheels the No. 88 Chevrolet in the 2017 Daytona 500, but NASCAR's most popular driver expects to be fully recovered sooner than that from concussion-like symptoms that sidelined him from the final 18 races of the 2016 season.
"We're going to go testing this offseason," Earnhardt said Monday night on the "Dirty Mo Radio" podcast. "Obviously I need to get in a race car. I'd love to get in a car and go run a little bit somewhere just to shake the rust off and get some confidence. I can do the basics before we ever go to Daytona.
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"We'll go do that sometime this offseason. We have to squeeze it in there somewhere because I'm getting married and have my honeymoon, and I have to certainly devote proper time to (fiancée) Amy (Reimann).
"But it'll be no problem. All signs point to us being in the car for Daytona."
Earnhardt, who suffered the concussion in June, will be 42 when he's back in a race car for the 2017 season, the final year of his current five-year contract with Hendrick Motorsports. He is expected to sign another contract with the No. 88 team, but the future beyond that for Earnhardt is unclear.