Earnhardt to test car next week ahead of planned Cup return

The Hendrick Motorsports driver continues to rest following his concussion diagnosis, which sidelined him from last weekend's Sprint Cup event at Charlotte and the coming Chase round at Kansas Speedway, the same venue where he suffered a first concussion during a crash while testing on August 29.

Earnhardt's sister Kelly wrote on a blog on Wednesday morning that his brother continues to rest in order to recover after he experienced headaches following a multi-car crash on the last lap of the Cup playoff race at Talladega.

According to Earnhardt, if the healing process continues according to plan he would test a car next week, hoping to get cleared to compete again.

"If all goes according to plan, and he continues to improve to 100 per cent, he will test a race car early next week to be cleared for Martinsville," Earnhardt's sister wrote.

"This has definitely been a eye opening experience and one that I hope we don't revisit in his career. The outpouring of support has been great, and well, the criticism, you can learn from that as well."

On Tuesday Earnhardt spent the day at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center doing "different therapies and exercises" before returning home where he continues to consult with doctors daily.

Regan Smith, who suffered an engine failure while running in the top-ten last weekend at Charlotte, will replace Earnhardt at Kansas again this weekend.