Dale Earnhardt Jr. remains on the mend with concussion-related symptoms, but he will be back trackside to cheer on his Hendrick Motorsports teammates this weekend at Dover International Speedway.
Earnhardt _ who shut it down for the rest of the year on doctor's advice after suffering a mid-season concussion _ promises that he will be watching the Xfinity and Sprint Cup races from the pit box.
He's hoping that gives a little extra giddy-up to Chase qualifiers Jimmie Johnson and Chase Elliott.
"It's going to be different and tough and maybe not a ton of fun," he said on his Dale Jr. Download podcast Monday. "It's a bit weird to not be in the car but at the track. When you're a driver, you don't know what to do with yourself. I'll try to support the guys and learn a thing or two.
"Excited to see how [substitute driver] Jeff [Gordon] does; he usually runs great at Dover. It's going to be different. We'll see how it goes."
Earnhardt also reported incremental progress on his health-related issues. He said his vision issues mostly have subsided, and his rehabilitation exercises no longer are causing bad side effects.
"The only thing that triggers the symptoms is going somewhere I'm unfamiliar with, going somewhere I've never been, where it is busy, a lot of people talking, a lot of movement, a lot of visual stimulation," Earnhardt said.
Earnhardt is hopeful of returning to competitive driving next season.
"I'm going to be doing a lot of stuff that's really hard for anybody to do to try to continue to improve the balance and my response time and how quick I'm reacting to things and so forth. [I'm] still working on it and I enjoy the work."
