Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he'll resume driving as soon as doctors allow

— -- WATKINS GLEN, NY - Dale Earnhardt Jr. made his first appearance at a racetrack since being diagnosed with a concussion four weeks ago, and he has a message for his fans:

He's not retiring. Not yet, anyway.

Earnhardt, who has missed the last three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races and will miss at least two more, took questions for 30 minutes during a media appearance at Watkins Glen International, where the Cup Series races on Sunday.

The popular driver said he is continuing to make progress in his therapy, but as long as he continues to suffer from ocular imbalance issues, there can be no set timetable for his return to the seat of the No. 88 Chevrolet.

However, he does plan to return to competition as soon as he is cleared by doctors.

"I'm not ready to stop racing; I'm not ready to quit," Earnhardt said.

"It's a slow process and I wish it wasn't," he continued. "I don't know how long its gonna take, and as impatient as I am, I worry about everyone else's patience as well.

"But I'm not going to go in the car until the doctors say I'm ready to race."

Earnhardt sustained the concussion in a relatively minor looking crash at Michigan Speedway on June 12, but he said the symptoms were slow to develop. He drove in three more races before recognizing that he wasn't feeling right, at which point he sought medical attention.

"Unfortunately it's a slow process and there's no guidelines or rulebook," he said. "There's no consistent history over how long this really takes to clear up so we're just having to be patient.

"My doctors feel great about the opportunity that I not only will be healthy again, but they can actually make my brain stronger to be able to withstand these common events," he added. "The event that I had a Michigan which they tied this concussion to, I should have been able to get through that without having a concussion. So they're working not only to get me healed up, but to make sure I can compete and I can go through events like that without any concern."

Earnhardt has been involved in several major accidents over the course of his 16-year NASCAR career, and he missed two races due to a concussion in 2012.

He said his therapy is different this time, with doctors encouraging him to engage in activities outside his comfort zone. That includes things like dining out, playing with his sister's kids, or making himself available to the media at Watkins Glen.

"In this situation, my doctor says it's good therapy to go somewhere that makes you feel worse," Earnhardt explained. "He wants me to do anything that pushes me into areas to get my anxiety and drive the symptoms so my body gets used to them. He calls that exposure, and this [press conference] is probably the worst situation as far as making my senses to go haywire."

"I just want to get better," he added. Nothing else is really a priority except for just getting the symptoms to clear up and get back to feeling like yourself. That's all that I'm thinking about. It's a challenge, but we've got some great doctors and I really believe and trust what they are telling me. I just have to do what they tell me."