Dale Earnhardt Jr. is back on the track and excited about it

When someone says they are “freakin’ pumped” about a test session, you know they are happy to be back behind the wheel.

When did Dale Earnhardt Jr. become one of racing’s senior statesmen? It seems like he just went overnight from a young gun to a NASCAR veteran, one who wouldn’t normally have his competitive juices flowing due to a pre-Daytona test session.

Things are different for Earnhardt in 2017, though. After sitting out half of the previous season due to a concussion, the sport’s most popular driver is finally back in his #88 Chevrolet, turning laps this week with 12 other drivers at Phoenix Raceway.

As he told ESPN, Earnhardt was chomping at the bit to get back to it:

"“It’s been a fun day,” Earnhardt said. “It didn’t really take any time to get acclimated or adjusted to anything. There’s a couple of small new things with the cockpit or the dash, little things like that to get used to.“This sport, it’s funny how things continue to change, technology in the cars continue to change. As far as driving the car, I felt real comfortable out there.”"

He also spoke about how he’s a little concerned there might be rust to shake off or a steeper learning curve than usual with regard to new aero packages and rules. The 42-year old can arguably afford that less than ever with that elusive Cup Series championship still eluding him and his career closer to its end than its beginning.

Maybe it helped to return to a stock car in Phoenix, where Earnhardt notched his last win late in the 2015 season. While he failed to find his way to victory lane before getting sidelined last year, he did rack up four second place finishes, so the 88 can still run up front.

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Fans will be pulling for him as hard as they did when he broke into the Cup Series in 1999. And even though Junior is already a two-time Daytona 500 winner, you have to figure that everyone would be “freakin’ pumped” if he completed this chapter of his career with another win in just a few weeks.