Jeff Gordon leaned in for a chat with “Fearless Freddie” a year ago at Chicagoland before the race.
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Did you miss Jeff Gordon’s farewell tour previous year before he retired from driving in NASCAR?
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will sit out the race at New Hampshire on Sunday due to concussion-like symptoms.
And though Bowman had 71 Cup starts to his credit before Sunday’s race, none of them came in equipment remotely comparable with the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet he drove in Earnhardt’s stead.
Turns out Earnhardt’s suspicions were correct.
“I wasn’t feeling great the week going into Kentucky and thought it was possibly severe allergies”.
Earnhardt has been out of the race due to a concussion, and if he’s not cleared by doctors to get back into the number 88 auto, Gordon could be just the guy he needs to take the wheel for him. He has called NASCAR races for Fox Sports television. He won the first Brickyard 400 in 1994 and has won a record five Sprint Cup races at Indianapolis in 1994, 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2014. BMS executive VP and General Manager Jerry Caldwell presented Gordon with “Jeff Gordon Terrace” – which is a fixed feature at the speedway.
The reference is to the possibility that Earnhardt might finally seriously contend for what would be his first Sprint Cup championship.
Earlier this year, Earnhardt announced that he had made a decision to donate his brain for scientific and medical research.
Duchardt said Earnhardt saw a team of doctors over two days and he learned he could not drive around noon Thursday.
There are no real expectations for the 23-year-old, meeting Greg Ives for the first time Tuesday night, while getting fitted to be the relief driver for Earnhardt if that were the route the team chose to go.
“I know he’s anxious and we want him back as soon as the doctors give him clearance”. And just around, I guess it was Daytona, if there was something major wrong, I think they would have seen it already.
“Hopefully Dale is going to be back next week and it’s not even something we think is going to happen”, Hendrick said. As Dale Earnhardt Jr. sits on the sidelines this week, Alex Bowman’s name one day may find its way on this exact list.
Representatives of Hendrick Motorsports met with the media Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“My understanding was, Dale was told that he shouldn’t race”, Duchardt said. NASCAR mandated in 2013 for drivers to submit a baseline neurocognitive assessment.
With Junior ranked 14th in points coming out of Kentucky (the top 16 drivers at the end of the regular season make the Chase field), all was not lost. “We’re taking it a week at a time”.
But missing one more race likely would put Earnhardt behind Bayne and put his championship hopes in jeopardy (assuming he gets a waiver from NASCAR, which would be a surprise if he doesn’t). Under a new three-step process, a driver showing any indication of a head injury must go immediately to a hospital.
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Did anyone think they would ever see that four-time champion back in a racecar after announcing 2015 was his retirement tour? The Hendrick team said he was experiencing concussion-like symptoms and that doctors recommended that he not drive.
