NASCAR: A Timeline Of Dale Jr.’s Concussion Struggles

2016 – Two Wrecks

Despite the concussion issue not being at the forefront the last couple of seasons, Earnhardt Jr. was reminded a few weeks ago that this is something that is always going to be with him.

Earnhardt Jr. was involved in a wreck at Michigan early in June on a restart that resulted in his day coming to an end sooner than planned. After the wreck he spoke with Fox Sports 1 about the impact and the need for drivers to protect each other on the track.

"(The impact) wasn’t too bad, actually. I knew I was going to hit the wall. The 34 (of Chris Buescher) just drove into my left rear quarter panel, man. I don’t know. On restarts you have a responsibility to take care of everyone out there, even when you’re three-wide. I’m disappointed in that."

Despite Earnhardt’s claim that the impact wasn’t that bad, we would find out down the road that it was bad enough to cause concussion-related issues.

Three weeks later Earnhardt was involved in another wreck, this time at Daytona. While this wreck took out several cars, Earnhardt Jr. didn’t seem too worse for wear following the incident when he spoke of the NASCAR TV broadcast. Earnhardt would then race the following weekend in Kentucky before pulling himself out of the car ahead of New Hampshire.

Next: New Hampshire