Dale Earnhardt Jr To Race In NASCAR 2018 Season After All

MOORESVILLE, NC -- Well that didn’t last long. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who officially retired about two months ago, will be climbing back into a race car this fall in Richmond, he announced this week.

Earnhardt took to Twitter to confirm his plans to race in the Xfinity Series in the 2018 season, which kicks off Saturday, Feb. 17.

“Right now I just have the fall @RichmondRaceway race on my schedule,” Earnhardt said on Twitter Jan. 28. It won’t be a one-time race, if he can find sponsorship. “Want to do more. Offering sponsorship packages that include one event with me in addition to 8-10 events with our 4 other cars,” he said.

The fall Xfinity Series race set for Richmond Raceway is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 21. The choice of track probably comes as no surprise to his die hard fans. Earnhardt clocked his last Xfinity Series win on the .75 mile short track in 2016.

One of the most popular NASCAR drivers ever, Earnhardt announced early last year his plans to retire at the end of the 2017 season, which had been marked as a comeback for him after he sat out half of the 2016 season due to a major concussion.

SEE ALSO: NASCAR: 6 Things To Look For In 2018 Season

He said at the time he made the decision to retire during rehabilitation for the injury. "You're wondering why I reached this decision, it's really simple. I wanted the opportunity to go out on my own terms," he said. Earnhardt said at the time that while he was leaving Cup series, he planned on staying involved in the sport.

Earnhardt stands to have a full plate this year. He and his wife Amy are expecting the birth of their daughter. "Excited to share the wonderful news that @mrsamyearnhardt and I are expecting our first child. A little girl!!!! We are both thrilled and can't wait to meet her," Earnhardt said on his Instagram account.

He also starts a new job this weekend with NBC Sports, where he will be part of the network's Super Bowl pregame coverage in Minneapolis, as well as part of its Winter Olympics coverage next month in South Korea, the Associated Press reported. The duties are in advance of his upcoming position as an analyst for NBC Sports, which begins this summer.

“What they are asking me to do is just go out there and be myself and hopefully get people interested in tuning into NASCAR," he told the AP.

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Photo credit: Harold Hinson Photography