So Saturday night, we will turn on the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from Daytona and see Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
But not behind the wheel.
That's still weird for us, so it has got to be weird for him, right?
"It's not weird at all, man," Earnhardt, 43, told me Thursday. "I'm pretty comfortable. I was real comfortable with the decision to retire. I love being at the track, so I'm having fun being at the track and not having a steering wheel in my hand is not bothering me all that much."
Welcome to life after racing for one of racing's most famous names. Then again, Earnhardt doesn't consider his NASCAR career over. Oh, he's done driving. Concussion and injuries ended Earnhardt's driving career and when asked if he has any regrets about climbing out of the car, he says, "Oh hell no!"
But he insists that his life in racing is only half over. The next part, as an analyst for NBC, is every bit as important to him as the first part.
"I want to do this for 10 or 20 years," Earnhardt said. "I want this to be a long-term opportunity for me. I want my broadcasting career to rival my career as a driver. If I can get out of this one day down the road and people go, 'Man, he was a real asset to the sport as much as he was in the car,' that would be a great compliment."
Earnhardt got the broadcasting bug filling in while sitting out some races in 2016 and 2017.
"It was a really good time," Earnhardt said. "I keep saying it over and over again, but it checked all the boxes for me. If I'm going to go do something, I want to have fun doing it. (Broadcasting) certainly is enjoyable. I could have probably sat home and took a year off and sat around trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my time but this was a great opportunity and I couldn't pass it up."
When Earnhardt talks about checking boxes, the first is about giving him a reason to still go to the track.
"The NBC thing feels like a purpose," Earnhard said. "It feels like I've got a responsibility and I'm busy."
It's hardly the only thing Earnhardt has going. He co-owns JR Motorsports of the Xfinity Series. He has several business investments, including a restaurant and car dealership. He continues to pitch products. He helped out on NBC's Super Bowl and Olympic coverage. He showed up on the NBC set during the Stanley Cup final. He has a book coming out in the fall. And he and his wife, Amy, did a series on DIY Network in which they renovated a home.
"It is fun to put yourself in areas and scenarios that people don't expect to see you in," Earnhardt said. "To get out of the car and people are like, 'I wonder what Dale is going to do now? Where am I going to see him? Whoa, he's renovating a house? What the hell?' When you can surprise people with what you're doing and where you are and what they can see you getting your hands on, that's fun."
Oh, and his busiest job? Being a first-time dad as he and Amy welcomed baby girl Isla Rose last April.
All this is really why he no longer has the itch to get back behind the wheel.
"To quit cold turkey from driving or to quit cold turkey from being some kind of asset to the sport was going to be hard," Earnhardt said. "So (broadcasting) was a great way for me to continue being involved in the sport."
He has only done one race in 2018, but the reviews have been good.
"You just react to what you're seeing and if you don't annoy people, you have a good chance to make it work," Earnhardt, Jr.
Junior's down-home style makes him relatable and likable to the audience. Now he's working on the finer details, like learning how to talk while a producer is talking in your ear. And, surprisingly, three hours in the booth is more taxing than three hours on the race track.
"I'm surprised of how hard it is to carry energy through the whole race," Earnhardt said. "There are times when you just want to take a break and you can't. You have to keep plugging away and keep that tempo and that is more difficult than I thought it would be."
The other part is what many former athletes find most difficult when making transition to the booth: the willingness to be critical.
"I'm going through that and I'll have to deal with that," Earnhardt said. "It's something you're apprehensive about. But one thing I know for sure is my job is to make the audience at home happy. And if they see you putting some sugar on it or if they see you not calling in straight, they're going to let you know and you're going to lose credibility. Now, you don't hammer a guy. You got to be professional and you have to have relationships with these drivers to be able to communicate with them to prepare weekly. But, at the same time, drivers know when they get in the car that there's a possibility of making a mistake and someone pointing out that mistake is real. That's a responsibility we have as broadcasters to the fans at home. We have to call it as we see it."
Expect Earnhard to call it as he sees it. And if it's interesting, expect Earnhardt to do it.
"Now that I'm out of the car and I don't have to focus on driving and preparing, I'm finding things interesting that I never would have thought of doing," Earnhardt said. "So I wouldn't be surprised if we got ourselves involved in new things and go get involved in the entertainment side. We'll just have to see. My broadcasting job is my priority and I want to be great at it. I want to have this job a long time so I'm going to make sure that I'm doing everything I need to do to be able to stick around.'
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