NASCAR: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Speaks Openly About Health
For the first time since being diagnosed with concussion-like symptoms last week, Dale Earnhardt Jr. used his weekly podcast as a platform to openly discuss his current health.
If there is one thing that every NASCAR drivers wants to be doing, it’s driving. For Dale Earnhardt Jr. that is not a possibility at the moment thanks to the concussion-like symptoms that he has been battling.
It was announced late last week that Earnhardt Jr. would not be racing in New Hampshire. A day later it was announced that if Earnhardt cannot race this weekend in Indy, four-time NASCAR champion and former teammate Jeff Gordon will be behind the wheel of the No. 88 machine.
On Monday afternoon Earnhardt’s weekly podcast (Dale Jr. Download) was uploaded and in the podcast Earnhardt Jr. talks about his health and his current battle with nausea and balance.
"It’s just going to take a lot of patience. My health and quality of life is a top priority. I always do that. So I’m going to take this slow and strictly follow the advice of my doctors and try to learn as much as I can to be smarter and wiser. It’s always been a real experience to go through this stuff because you learn so much.My mind feels real sharp. I took the ImPACT [concussion] test, which measures thought process and the speed of your thought process, memory and retaining memory and my results matched my baseline [test], which made me feel confident my brain was pretty sharp. It feels good.I’m going to continue to work with my doctors to understand more about the injury and how to treat it,” Earnhardt said. “They can give me a lot exercises to retrain my brain to handle what I need to handle."
The two biggest takeaways from the podcast is that Earnhardt Jr. still is not feeling 100 percent. Balance issues and nausea are obviously not good signs. The other takeaway is the fact that he seems committed to being patient and not rushing anything. While a decision for Indy will not be made until Wednesday, at this point it would seem unlikely that Earnhardt Jr. will be in the No. 88 machine this weekend.
If Earnhardt does indeed miss Indy, the question of his ability to make the Chase this season will come into play. Earnhardt Jr. should not have an issue missing two races and still being able to get into the Chase based on points. However, if he misses a third race (or more) it will most likely turn into a situation in which he will need to win to get in.
That being said, the Chase conversation really is something that is on the back burner for now as Earnhardt Jr.’s health is of the most importance. Earnhardt coming back in six or seven weeks 100 percent healthy is far more important than him coming back in three weeks at less than 100 percent only in an effort to salvage his Chase efforts.
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If Earnhardt is cleared to race in Indy, his fans can expect that announcement from HMS some time on Wednesday of this week. Otherwise Gordon will get the nod and he will come out of retirement to drive at Indy one more time.
Be sure to follow along with BTF in the coming days for continued coverage of Earnhardt Jr. and his status at Indy.