NASCAR: Dale Jr. has expressed a major concern

Two drivers have lost their chances to win the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series championship due to injuries. But how many other injuries have gone undetected?

With Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman sidelined for both the second and third races in the round of 12, he was eliminated from 2022 NASCAR Cup Series championship contention.

Bowman was ruled out of the races at Talladega Superspeedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval as a result of the concussion-like symptoms he has experienced since his single-car crash at Texas Motor Speedway in the round of 12 opener.

He also missed the round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and has already been ruled out for the races at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway.

His absence from the round of 12’s final two events made him the second driver to lose his chance at competing for the title as a result of concussion-like symptoms stemming from a single-car crash that looked relatively minor, causing questions to be asked about the safety of the Gen 7 car.

23XI Racing’s Kurt Busch also remains sidelined after his single-car qualifying crash at Pocono Raceway back in July.

Busch has now missed 13 races. He would have been in the playoffs, since he won the May race at Kansas Speedway, but he withdrew himself from the postseason field because he knew he wouldn’t be back in time. He has since decided to retire from full-time competition, though he hasn’t ruled out competing in select races in the future.

The fact that we have seen two relatively minor incidents produce some of the hardest hits these drivers have ever taken has led Dale Earnhardt Jr., who missed the entire second half of the 2016 season due to a concussion himself, to suggest that perhaps there are more head injuries taking place that we simply don’t know about.

Here is what he had to say recently on the Dale Jr. Download.

"“Here’s my opinion. We’re having more people step up and say, ‘I’ve got a concussion.’ We’ve got Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman who are out of the car this year alone with a concussion, and those are the only two we know about.“Let’s not fool ourselves. Drivers will get a concussion and race with it. It would not shock me if several of these guys got a concussion unknowingly and got back in the car — or knew that they had some sort of concussion in a crash — and continued to race.”"

Dale Jr.’s point is a fair point, and it’s a concerning point, considering the nature of head injuries and all of the controversy surrounding them lately, and not just in NASCAR.

Worst of all, it’s probably true. How many drivers are actually willingly step up and sit out several races? 100% seems way too generous.

When you consider the fact that the long-term effects of sustaining not one but two concussions, especially in such a short span of time, could be devastating, will something need to be done by NASCAR, aside from the obvious necessary improvements to the Gen 7 car itself, to prevent the issue from getting worse — and to prevent drivers from becoming their own worst enemies?

NASCAR is supposedly making progress with the safety of the Gen 7 car, and it is progress with which many have stated they are pleased, but that progress can’t undo the damage that has already been done. The problem is that we might not really know how much actual damage has already been done.