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

100 Percent Transparent

From the beginning Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been committed to being completely transparent when it comes to his recovery and his road back to the track.

It all began with Earnhardt providing weekly updates on his podcast. It was on the podcast that he spoke about what he was going through, the issues that he was still dealing with and potential timetables for his return or future doctor visits. In his first update he preached patience while talking about his lingering issues.

"The symptoms that I have are balance and nausea. I’ve struggled with my balance over the last 4-5 days, and I definitely wouldn’t be able to drive a race car this weekend. Making the right decision really was out of the question; I made the decision I had to make. My mind feels real sharp. I took the ImPACT tests, which measures thought process and the speed of your thought process, and memory and retaining memory, and my results matched my baseline — which made me feel confident that my brain was pretty sharp. It feels good."

Over the next few weeks Earnhardt continued to provide updates via the podcast and Twitter.

The weekend of Watkins Glen Earnhardt Jr. made his return to the media center and spoke in an open forum for the first time since getting out of the car prior to New Hampshire.

It was during this media session that Earnhardt Jr. hammered home the fact that he intends on returning to the track, he intends on fulfilling his current contract and he has even been in talks about a contract extension with HMS. Once again he preached patience and giving it time.

Following his Watkins Glen update, Earnhardt Jr. used Instagram to provide us all with a special look at some of the daily things his doctors are having him do to speed up the recovery.

Next: Looking Ahead