NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
  • Peg It on GarageMonkey
CUP: Teammates Back Earnhardt’s Decision
Jeff Gordon said it would be hard to take himself out of the car…
Tom Jensen  |  Posted October 12, 2012   Concord, NC
Jimmie Johnson,(Left) driver of the No. 48 Lowe's/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, and Jeff Gordon, (Right) driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, talk in the garage area. (Photo: Getty Images)
Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon both said on Thursday that they fully supported the decision by their Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. to go see neurologist Dr. Jerry Petty after suffering two concussions.

But both were glad they weren’t in Earnhardt’s shoes.

Earnhardt suffered his first concussion during an Aug. 29 tire test at Kansas Speedway and a second at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday. Earnhardt saw Petty on Tuesday and was told that he would not have medical clearance to race for at least the next two events.

“I credit Junior for being aware of how he feels and what’s going on,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be a tough week for him; especially as the week goes on … (when) he’s watching it on television Saturday night, I can only imagine how difficult that will be for him.”

Johnson acknowledged that stepping out the car was especially difficult given the success that Earnhardt has enjoyed this year.

“To come so far all year long, for himself and that team, and the sponsors associated and everybody involved, it’s a sad day that he’s going to be out,” said Johnson. “But we have to pay attention to his health and really focus on getting him healed up. Concussions are a tricky thing, as we all know. And we’ve got to make sure that he’s right so if he is in the car and does have another crash, that it doesn’t set him back any further.”

For his part, Gordon admitted that if he were in thick of the championship hunt and had a hard crash, he likely wouldn’t go for medical testing and risk being parked.

“We all play a part in this,” said Gordon. “If I have a (shot) at the championship, there’s two races to go, my head is hurting, and I just came through a wreck, and I am feeling signs of it, but I’m still leading the points, or second in the points, I’m not going to say anything. I’m sorry. You know, that is competitor in me, and probably many other guys. And, that’s to a fault. That’s not the way it should be. It is something that most of us, I think, would do. I think that is what gets a lot of us in trouble.”

Gordon said he thought Earnhardt Jr. did the right thing, although Gordon wouldn’t necessarily do the same thing.

“I applaud Junior for stepping up,” Gordon said. “Whether he felt like he was out of the championship or not, the fact that he felt like he needed to, I applaud him. And I think that you would wish as an individual, you would do the same thing in that situation. But, I can’t say that I would. But, if I was in that position of being in a championship, I’d almost guarantee that I wouldn’t.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
tom_jensen's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Jensen

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2013

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.