Dale Earnhardt Jr. Credit: Autostock

Junior plans to spend entire weekend in No. 8

LONG POND, Pa. -- Though there is still no concrete strategy, Dale Earnhardt Jr. plans to drive the Budweiser Chevrolet throughout the Pennsylvania 500 weekend, with John Andretti standing by to take over if necessary, Andretti told NASCAR.COM Friday morning.

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"This is a Dale Jr. weekend," Andretti said. "We still don't know exactly what the plans are, but he's going to go if he can."

Andretti said inclement weather would be ideal. If practice and qualifying are rained out, Junior would have a front row starting spot and never have to get in the car.

If Andretti does get in the car, the team won't have to switch out seats. Andretti has a seat insert that he'll simply slide into Earnhardt's seat, greatly reducing the overall time required to complete the driver switch.

AUDIO Garage Pass Earnhardt Jr. on his plans for Pocono and more

Earnhardt sat out practice and qualifying last weekend at New Hampshire while nursing second-degree burns on his chin, neck and inner thighs, suffered in a sports car wreck two weeks ago at Infineon Raceway.

He started the Siemens 300, picking up 14 positions in 61 laps before surrendering the seat to Martin Truex Jr.