NASCAR Cup Series

NASCAR: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ready To Talk Extension With HMS

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

NASCAR’s most popular driver has been cleared to return to the track for the 2017 season and now it seems as though he is ready to continue his contract extension talks with Hendrick Motorsports.

While Earnhardt Jr. was out while dealing with his concussion issues, he made a comment about how he was in the early stages of talking with HMS about extending his current contract. Earnhardt’s current contract with HMS ends following the 2017 season and at the age of 42, some speculated that this season might be his last in NASCAR’s top series.

In the past Earnhardt has been open about his wishes to end his NASCAR career while running in a car for JR Motorsports and some fans thought that 2018 might be when that transition took place but that appears to not be the case. In a teleconference on Friday, Earnhardt made it clear that he wants to remain with HMS and that he is ready to talk about extending his current deal with them.

We’re probably going to revisit that [contract extension] before the season starts. I’ve told you guys that before I got sick, me and [team owner] Rick [Hendrick] had been sitting down and talking about our future and the extension and what we wanted to do and all that stuff was starting to come together. I wouldn’t be coming back to the seat and wanting to drive and excited about driving cars if there was any risk other than the typical risk that every driver faces on Sunday. I feel very confident in what I’ve seen in myself, my improvement and I feel confident in what my doctors tell me about my future.

Earnhardt, fresh off of winning NASCAR’s most popular driver award for the 14th consecutive time will be looking to win his first NASCAR championship in 2017.

With a difficult 2016 now behind him, Junior Nation should be filled with optimism heading into 2017. Earnhardt’s teammate Jimmie Johnson is coming off of his seventh title which proves that JGR might have been the team to beat in 2016 but HMS is capable of doing it.

Earnhardt Jr. will not be behind the wheel of the No. 88 machine for the Clash at Daytona, that ride will go to Alex Bowman. Earnhardt will be there for the Daytona 500 and everything else though as he prepares for what he hopes to be a strong 2017 performance for him and his team.