The race on Sunday is even more unique though because of the return of Jeff Gordon, who has come out of retirement to sub in for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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Jeff Gordon typically would leave frustrated after qualifying 21st for a race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Gordon never ruled out an occasional return when he stepped out of the number 24 auto last season. “I’m hoping that really pays off for me”.
Speedway President Doug Boles said race organizers were planning to announce Gordon would drive the pace vehicle this weekend.
“It would be all right, I guess”, Stewart joked. It’s a race vehicle and I’m going to be focused on driving, not focused on anything else.
“I think everybody in the town is pretty excited about Jeff Gordon stepping in for Mr. Dale Earnhardt (Jr.)”, added Martin. More recently, Denny Hamlin twice raced immediately after tearing the ACL in one of his knees and Brad Keselowski won at Pocono a week after breaking his foot. His admission led to a tightened medical review policy in which Earnhardt had to be seen by a doctor before he could race after he was briefly knocked unconscious in a 2002 crash at Dover. “Twenty-three years going into the No. 24 stall”. When Earnhardt suffered severe injuries, including a broken collar bone, a bruised heart and a concussion at Pocono in his rookie year, David Pearson was called on by team owner Rod Osterlund. Nor had they discussed Gordon’s availability in case Hendrick Motorsports ever found itself in need of an emergency driver.
“There certainly is a lot of preparation that goes into every race and every season, for the driver and the team”, Gordon said.
What type of racing can fans expect on Sunday? You can’t plan. You don’t know how you are going to react to it. To me, once I get behind the wheel and I’m inside the vehicle I don’t know what is on the outside of that auto. “I really am…. We made a conscious decision this is Dale’s auto”.
On Friday during a press conference before the first practice for the Brickyard 400, Hendrick said Earnhardt made an appearance at the team shop in Concord, North Carolina, and showed off the progress he had made over the past several days. “We will just take it day-by-day”. Last week: Matt Kenseth emerged down the stretch to win in New Hampshire for the second time in a row.
Earnhardt first visited doctors prior to the race at Kentucky two weeks ago, seeking treatment for what he believed was a severe sinus infection.
It could be argued that based on Earnhardt’s concussion history, NASCAR should have had him tested after one or both of his accidents. But make no mistake, Indianapolis is not an easy track.
“But of any track we could come to – heat or no heat – where I feel like I could come to and do a good job, it’s right here at Indianapolis”, Gordon said. “What we want most of all is for him to be healthy for the long haul, and hopefully this is a good sign of things to come for him”. I’m coming on Saturday.’ He said, ‘You’d better bring your uniform’.
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“I put my health and quality of life as a top priority”, he said.
