There is one ex-Hendrick driver and four-time Sprint Cup champion who adores racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, though, and Sprint Cup heads there next weekend for the Brickyard 400.
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Don’t be surprised if Bowman records his first top-10 finish in the Cup Series this weekend. Duchardt would not confirm whether Earnhardt has been diagnosed with a concussion.
Gordon told Hendrick he had to be kidding.
Earnhardt Jr. repeated that there remains no timeline for his return to the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Gordon grew up in nearby Pittsboro, Ind.
While everyone would like the Dale Earnhardt Jr. concussion talk to focus on his health, there will be a race this weekend.
Earnhardt did take the ImPACT test. I’m hopeful and encouraged that Dale will be fine – we just have to give him a little time to rest. But we need him for the long pull. Could negotiations between Hendrick and Gordon put Gordon in the auto long term or will young Bowman be their solution?
“If Dale can’t go, Jeff is ready to step in”.
“When Dale is ready, that’s his auto to get back into”, he said.
“I asked him what he was doing next week”. “But it’s not easy to be away from the sport and jump back in the saddle”.
Gordon was in France when he received the call from Hendrick that he might have to grab his helmet out of storage.
“I would think so”, Hendrick said. They took me to my worst racetrack by far and made me look good.
“Yeah, just because you go to the nude beach for a couple of months doesn’t mean you don’t know how to put your underwear back on”, Newman said, smiling. He missed two races during the 2012 Chase because of a pair of concussions suffered in a six-race stretch, and sitting out those events immediately ended any title shot.
It’s not clear when Earnhardt was injured – he was in crashes at MI on June 12 and Daytona on July 2 – and his symptoms originally led Earnhardt to believe his problem was allergy or sinus related.
“There’s been no athlete as prominent as Dale Earnhardt Jr. who has been willing to consistently talk about concussions, educate the public and set the right example”, he said.
The release went on to quote Junior as saying he wasn’t feeling great headed into Kentucky, but thought it was allergies. “Sonoma, I think, really helped relax everybody”.
The team already had Bowman in place as a backup for New Hampshire and stuck with that plan to keep him as the full substitute driver. “He said, ‘I’ll be in Indy”.
“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”. “I’ve got some great doctors to learn from”. And he has admitted to having raced with concussion-like symptoms in the past.
Former athletes in other sports have sued their leagues, contending the risks of concussions were hidden from them so they could return to competition.
Earlier this year, Earnhardt pledged his brain to researchers looking into the connection between concussions and traumatic brain injuries.
“It’s about making sure that he gets better and supporting him and his decision”, Duchardt said. The baseline tests measure visual memory, verbal memory, processing speed and reaction time and set baselines in each area.
Dashed championship hopes would still be the case for any driver injured during NASCAR’s 10-race playoffs, but the sanctioning body has made it easier for drivers to admit they are hurt.
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Earnhardt must be cleared by a neurologist before he can return.
