Nascar’s Dale Jr. Suffers Major Concussion, Out For Two Races, Maybe Longer

I was driving home from the radio station last night, and caught the news conference of Dale Jr. I've been a huge Nascar fan since 2004, and catch at least one race a week on TV. I saw the crash last Sunday, and aside of the Carl Edwards crash, this was the worst. Twenty cars involved, and luckily all the drivers walked away. Dale says he'll be back in the 88 in two or three weeks. I'm betting he's out for the season. Concussions are very serious, and often take months or longer to heal. Enter Rick Crawford. Rick received a concussion in a race back in 2005. He had to leave racing for many years, and to this day, suffers major headaches several times a week. Dale did the right thing in getting the medical attention he needed, but I don't see him racing until next February (the season start) if then.

"I remember everything about that [Kansas] accident and everything after that accident. [But] I knew something was just not quite right. I decided to just try to push through … by Talladega I felt like I was 100 percent. But at the end of that race, I was hit … I knew then that I had sort of regressed …"

Nascar.com reports that Hendrick Motorsports announced Thursday morning that Earnhardt will not be behind the wheel of his customary No. 88 Chevrolet for both this Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the following week's race at Kansas Speedway. Earnhardt was diagnosed with the concussion Wednesday afternoon in Charlotte, and Regan Smith will be the team's substitute driver at Charlotte and Kansas.

Earnhardt Jr., car owner Rick Hendrick crew chief Steve Letarte and Dr. Petty met with the media later Thursday morning at CMS, where Earnhardt admitted he should have gone to a doctor earlier after experiencing concussion symptoms following the incident in Kansas.

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