"I was little disappointed that he did": When Richard Petty expressed concerns over Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s return to racing

Back in 2017, Richard Petty was disappointed with Dale Earnhardt Jr. after the latter decided to return to racing ways despite suffering from concussion-like symptoms. In one of his interviews that year with FS1's show NASCAR Race Hub, the former NASCAR driver said that Dale Jr. did not need to 'mess up the next half of his life.'

During the 2016 NASCAR Cup Series season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffered multiple crashes when he was driving the #88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. He was diagnosed with concussion-like symptoms.

Following this, he missed out on the latter half of that season and had to sit out as Alex Bowman and Jeff Gordon worked as his replacements for the rest of the reason. However, after he was cleared to race medically, Earnhardt Jr. decided to return to racing in 2017.

This, however, did not sit well with Petty. Here's what he said about it:

"He's lived half his life, and he don't need to be messed up going to the next [half]." (As per usatoday.com)

"I was a little disappointed that he did [return]. I just feel like he got through with it two or three times, and he had some pretty big knocks in the head. I've had them too—I think I still live in one of them—but hitting mine was never that bad," he added.

Richard Petty raced with Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s father, Dale Earnhardt, from 1975 to 1992. Petty retired from racing in 1992, but the latter continued till 2001 until he faced a fatal crash during the Daytona 500.

Petty and Earnhardt are among the four drivers who have won four or more NASCAR Cup Series championships. The other two are Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. on why he decided to return to racing

In one of his interviews from 2017, Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared that he decided to return to racing ways as he wanted to be involved in the sport. The former Cup Series driver stated that the fans and camaraderie were his motivations.

"I’m not going to race for any other reason, but I want to be out there. I don’t think that’s very smart to do it for any other reasons. There’s motivations to racing: the fans, and camaraderie, and all the great things you get to experience, but if I’m gonna come back, I have to be racing because I want to be out there."

After racing for a full season in the 2017 Cup Series, Dale Earnhardt Jr. retired from full-time racing. However, he continued racing in the Xfinity Series under part-time obligation for his team, JR Motorsports.

Throughout his illustrious career, the Kannapolis-based driver competed in 631 races over a 19-year career, during which, he claimed 26 race wins, 15 pole positions, and 260 Top 10s.