Dale Earnhardt Jr. Out With Concussion, Will Miss Next Two Races
Just when things start to look up for Dale Earnhardt Jr., bad luck strikes again. Earnhardt will miss the next two races in the chase for the Sprint Cup Championship in Charlotte and Kansas due to a concussion. This will end his championship run.
At Thursday's press conference Earnhardt revealed that he had sustained a concussion in an accident during a tire test at Kansas Speedway on Aug. 29, but he was not diagnosed until this week. Earnhardt said he began suffering from headaches shortly after being involved in a 25-car pileup at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, and doctors diagnosed the concussion on Wednesday.
Following the race, he told reporters that the thought restrictor-plate races were bloodthirsty and added, "If this is what we did every week, I wouldn't be doing it. I'll just put it to you like that. If this is how we raced every week, I'd find another job."
This makes for a disappointing end for what was a great season for Earnhardt, who won his first race since 2008 in June. He also had 10 top-five finishes and 18 top-10s, and made the Chase for the Cup.
The concussion also breaks his consecutive start streak of 461 races, fifth among active drivers in the Sprint Cup Series. David Ragan will take the wheel of the #88 Chevrolet for the next two races and possibly more, depending on how bad this concussion is.