ICYMI: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Heading To Super Bowl, Winter Olympics

MOORESVILLE, NC -- Usually, retirement means having a lot of downtime to fill. For NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr., however, it will soon mean a new line of work that will take him to Minneapolis and South Korea as a presenter for NBC Sports.

NBC Sports announced Tuesday that the insanely popular NASCAR personality who retired as a Cup driver at the end of the 2017 would 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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Fans of the NASCAR personality who miss the thought of seeing him go fast around the track will have one thing to look forward to: Earnhardt has accepted a social media invitation to ride in a bobsled with the U.S. bobsled team.

“Earnhardt will travel to PyeongChang, where he will explore the culture, people, and traditions in South Korea, and experience Olympic competitions first hand," NBC Sports said in a statement. "Earnhardt will visit the speed skating venue at Gangneung Ice Arena, and through the lens of a racer will view the speed, close contact, and tight turns on the short track speed skating oval, which so closely mirror Earnhardt’s racing days and nights at Bristol Motor Speedway."

“We can’t wait to get Dale’s take on what is one of the most compelling aspects of the Winter Games — sports that offer a mix of speed with the prospect of danger, an equation that he knows very well,” said Jim Bell, president of NBC Olympics Production and Programming.

What do you think? Will the prospect of seeing Jr. in a bobsled at the Winter Olympics entice you to tune in? Sound off in the comment section!

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