Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been medically cleared to return to NASCAR competition and will be back in the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports this weekend at Martinsville Speedway.
Per NASCAR policy, NASCAR's medical liaison office received official notification of his clearance to resume racing late Tuesday morning. Earnhardt announced Oct. 11 that he would miss two races, Charlotte and Kansas, while he was recovering from a concussion.
On Monday, Earnhardt tested into a car at Gresham Motorsports Park in Georgia for a closed test session attended by neurosurgeon Dr. Jerry Petty and ran 123 laps. The two then met Tuesday morning in Dr. Petty's Charlotte office for a follow-up evaluation.
"Dale Jr. has done everything asked of him," Dr. Petty said in a statement released by Hendrick Motorsports. "He hasn't had a headache since Oct. 12, and we have not been able to provoke any symptoms since that time. I have informed NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports that he is medically cleared for all NASCAR-related activity."
Earnhardt missed the Chase rounds at Charlotte and Kansas after he was diagnosed with a concussion following a last-lap crash at Talladega and a previous incident while testing at Kansas six weeks earlier. He currently ranks 12th in the Cup standings, having run one of his most consistent seasons and his strongest since joining Hendrick in 2008.