Dale Jr. coming to RDU to officially open his restaurant there

If you're flying in or out of Raleigh-Durham International Airport on the morning of Monday, June 4, you might catch a glimpse of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the terminal.

Earnhardt will be at RDU to celebrate the opening of his namesake restaurant, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Whisky River, which began serving customers at the end of Concourse D in Terminal 2 in March.

The RDU restaurant is the third Whisky River, after the original at the EpiCentre in downtown Charlotte and a second at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, which opened in 2015. Earnhardt also plans to open a Whisky River in North Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Earnhardt's partner in both airport restaurants is HMSHost, which already operates most of the eateries in the terminals at RDU. Whisky River is the first restaurant at RDU to include a stage for live music.

The details of Earnhardt's visit have not yet been released. But airport officials say he is expected to appear only in the terminal, beyond the security checkpoint, so only passengers with airline tickets will have any chance of seeing him.

Earnhardt, 43, retired from NASCAR racing last fall, ending a career that began when he was 17 and earned him NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award 15 years in a row. Earnhardt's father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., was 49 when he was killed in a crash in the final lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001.

Whisky River is part of an overhaul of retail at RDU that includes 15 new shops opening this year, including a Vineyard Vines, a TripAdvisor travel store and a duty free shop.

This story was originally published May 17, 2018 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Dale Jr. coming to RDU to officially open his restaurant there."