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CUP: Earnhardt Jr. To Miss Two Races
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was diagnosed with a concussion after Sunday accident at Talladega…
Mike Hembree  |  Posted October 11, 2012   Concord, NC
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been diagnosed with a concussion and will miss the next two Sprint Cup races.

Earnhardt Jr. was involved in the 25-car accident on the final lap of Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway. There was no indication immediately after the race that he had been injured.

Regan Smith, the recently departed driver for Furniture Row Racing, will replace Earnhardt Jr. in Saturday night’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and in the following week’s race at Kansas Speedway. And AJ Allmendinger, recently reinstated to NASCAR eligibility after completing a drug rehabilitation program, will drive in place of Smith in the Phoenix Racing Chevrolet.

Although Earnhardt Jr.’s hopes to win the Sprint Cup championship already were slim (he is in 11th place after four races), missing two races obviously will take him out of the running.

Although Sunday’s incident and lingering headaches led to Earnhardt Jr. seeking medical help Tuesday, the hard hit he absorbed in a crash at Kansas Speedway Aug. 29 was the start of the problem, he said.

Participating in a tire test at the Kansas track, Earnhardt Jr. slammed into the wall after a right front tire failed. He was examined by an ambulance crew at the track and released.

“I remember everything about that accident and everything after it, but I knew I didn’t feel right,” Earnhardt Jr. said Thursday. “You know your body and how your mind works, and I knew something was just not quite right, but I decided to just push through and work through it. I had had concussions before and knew kind of what I was dealing with.

“I felt pretty good after a week or two, and then I was definitely 80 or 90 percent by the time the Chase started. By the time I got to Talladega, I felt 100 percent. In the accident at the end of that race, I was hit in the left rear quarter panel. It was sort of an odd kind of collision where the car spun around really quick and sort of disoriented me. … I knew as soon as it happened that I had reinjured myself, for the lack of a better way to describe it.”

Earnhardt Jr. described the Talladega hit as “not half the impact I had at Kansas but enough to cause me some concern. I went a couple of days wondering how my body would react and sort of waiting for it to process what was happening. I was still having headaches.”

Earnhardt Jr. was tested by Charlotte neurosurgeon Dr. Jerry Petty, who has had many years of experience treating NASCAR drivers. He underwent several tests, all of which confirmed no injuries beyond the concussion, Petty said.

Petty recommended that Earnhardt Jr. sit out two races.

“We want him to have four or five days after no headaches,” Petty said. “Then we’ll do some sort of test to get his pulse rate up and try to provoke a headache. If that goes well, we’ll probably clear him to race.”

Junior said he regrets not seeking additional medical attention after the Kansas crash. “I was stubborn,” he said. “I had had concussions before and thought I knew what I was dealing with. I thought I was capable of doing my job.”

Junior, who turned 38 Wednesday, raced with a concussion in 2002 after a crash at Auto Club Speedway. His later admission that he had a concussion caused NASCAR to strengthen its approach to dealing with drivers with similar injuries.

NASCAR vice president Steve O’Donnell said the driver’s input is important in the sanctioning body’s decision to approve individuals for competition.

“It’s not just NASCAR making the call,” he said. “It has to be the driver, as well, letting us know how he is feeling. We rely on the drivers to be upfront.”

After Sunday’s crash at Talladega, Earnhardt Jr. was very critical of the packed-house style of racing that often leads to multi-car crashes.

“It’s not safe,” he said. “Wrecking like that is ridiculous. It’s bloodthirsty if that is what people want. It’s ridiculous.

“If this is what we did every week, I wouldn’t be doing it. I will just put it to you like that. If this is how we raced every week, I would find another job.”

Earnhardt Jr. backed away somewhat from those comments later in the week, and his post-race rant now must be reconsidered in the context of the injury.

Earnhardt Jr. has started 461 consecutive Cup races. He said he does not plan to be at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend but will concentrate on relaxing and recovering.

“I think I’d be more of a distraction to the team and their efforts in the race,” he said. “I feel I can minimize distractions and help them out.

“I’m really going to feel pretty odd not being in the car. I’m real, real anxious to get back in the car. I think you learn not to take things for granted. I hate it that this has caused such a fuss.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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