Everybody’s favorite NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced that he was missing at least two races in this championship chase after a concussion formed due to crash trauma including a blown tire in Kansas and that huge wreck at Talladega, it was a real big one, all right. Dale was lucky to walk away from it.
It was the biggest racing news of the week, maybe even of the season, didn’t happen in a race car at all. It didn’t include a firesuit, a sponsor or wearing a helmet. Will Junior’s admission have impact on the sport?
Earnhardt knew something was wrong after hitting the Turn 1 wall hard at Kansas Speedway during a Goodyear tire test on August 29th.”You know your body and you know your mind, and you know when something is not quite right,” Earnhardt said”. Going into Turn 1, I remember everything about that accident and everything after that accident,” Earnhardt said. “But you know your body and you know how your mind works, and I knew something was just not quite right. I decided to just try to push through and work through it. I had had concussions before and thought I knew what I was dealing with”.
Car owner Rick Hendrick of Hendrick Motorsports announced Thursday morning that Earnhardt will not be behind the wheel of his customary No. 88 Chevrolet for both this Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the following week’s race at Kansas Speedway. Earnhardt was diagnosed with the concussion Wednesday afternoon in Charlotte, and Regan Smith will be the team’s substitute driver at Charlotte and Kansas.
Dale didn’t realize that something more might be wrong until he was involved in another accident last Sunday on the final lap of the 500 mile race at Talladega Superspeedway. He then left the track seeking the advice and examination of neurologist Dr. Jerry Petty, who told Earnhardt on Wednesday night that he needed to sit out at least the next two Sprint Cup races.
All of a sudden one the sport’s most popular driver is gone right in the middle of the championship race. That’s a big void to fill with Junior Nation, one of the most ravenous fan bases in all of sports, now without their favorite son to root on.
Dales father Dale Earnhardt Sr., known as “Old Iron Hand”, was killed at Daytona in 2001 with a skull fracture and has since been installed into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. He was one of the most popular drivers in NASCAR history.
