“I wish we had the finish, but they knew we were here”. So, I’m very hopeful and he’s very hopeful. I’ve just got to thank (team owner Rick Hendrick). On the same day Earnhardt was watching someone else drive his vehicle in New Hampshire, IndyCar ace Josef Newgarden was powering through on the street course at Toronto with a broken hand. Bowman was tabbed as his fill-in, and the 23-year old made the most of his chance, running in the top 10 most of the race until a cut tire forced his auto into the wall and ruined what was shaping up to be a fairy-tale day.
Advertisement
For the last two seasons in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Alex Bowman has essentially been a onlooker on the track.
“I’m just really thankful for Nationwide and all of Hendrick Motorsports for letting me be here”. We made a lot of progress this weekend. After further evaluation, it was decided Earnhardt had to sit.
Jeff Gordon will come out of retirement to fill in for Earnhardt this week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway should Earnhardt not be able to drive.
Gordon, who retired following the 2015 season, was contacted by Hendrick after news of Earnhardt’s problems became known. “I am going to take this slow and strictly take the advice of my doctors”.
“But if it does, Jeff is a team player and he wants to support the organization, and I’m sure he’ll do whatever he has to do”.
Earnhardt Jr. repeated that there remains no timeline for his return to the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
No money is going to bring my dad back, but what my goal now is, is to make sure the NASCAR family doesnt have to go through the similar things were going through now, she said. “He’s doing good. He wants to be in the auto. Download” on his weekly audio update on Dirty Mo Radio, providing his first comments on his condition since Hendrick Motorsports announced Thursday that he would miss the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at New Hampshire race for concussion-like symptoms.
If Gordon races next weekend, his fellow drivers certainly don’t expect any rust from the former champ. The driver said that after a crash in 2012, he knew something wasn’t right but didn’t get checked out by a neurologist right away. I would venture to say, though getting Gordon’s name involved is something that wouldn’t happen publicly if an extended outage wasn’t expected.
Power pitted on Lap 57 of 85 for his final stop of the race and moments later, defending race victor Josef Newgarden crashed when he ran over the curb in Turn 5. Team general manager Doug Duchardt said he didn’t notice any difference in Earnhardt during their Tuesday competition meeting.
The 41-year-old Earnhardt is winless this season and 13th in the points standings.
“He’s kind of an iron man. He doesn’t want to let the team down”. But we need him for the long pull. He wants to be in the auto. By undergoing a test that shows their baseline, the drivers can then go through the test again after a potential injury so doctors can observe any changes and determine if drivers have a concussion.
Gordon was in France when he received the call from Hendrick that he might have to grab his helmet out of storage.
Hendrick said when he first asked Gordon about driving, he thought he was joking.
Advertisement
“We love Dale Earnhardt, we love all of our drivers, and we want to see them good and healthy and to punish yourself when you don’t feel good – it’s tough enough if you’ve just got a bad cold – it’s hard to get out of the auto but we want him for the long haul, he wants to race for a long time and so we’re going to let the doctors make those decisions”, Hendrick told NBCSN.
