Dale Earnhardt, Jr. wasted little time
getting back into the competitive swing this weekend at Martinsville Speedway,
posting the second-fastest time in Friday’s opening Sprint Cup Series practice.
“It’s been a lot of time off,”
said Earnhardt of his two-week, concussion mandated hiatus. “(I’ve had) a lot
of time on my hands, just exercising and doing what the doctors told me to do. I’m
feeling better every day (and) just going through the process. You just have
got to be patient and let things happen.”
NASCAR’s most popular driver said he actually suffered two
different types of concussion; one in a testing crash at Kansas speedway last
month and a second on the final lap at Talladega.
“The first one at Kansas was your typical concussion (in) the
frontal lobe, with the headaches and the fogginess that you typically feel. The
one at Talladega was a vestibular (concussion); in the back or the base of the
brain, where the brain and your spine connect.” Earnhardt said the vestibular
concussion “mixed up a lot of anxiety and emotional stuff. The symptoms were
more anxiety driven. If I got into a busy situation, I would get a lot of
anxiety. So the two concussions were completely different. I was dealing with
different symptoms.
While frustrating, Earnhardt said his two-week layoff has been
educational.
“I’ve learned a ton about what I’ve went through,” he said. “I feel
like I’m a lot smarter, a lot more prepared and understand the situation a lot
better now than I did beforehand. It’s something I’d rather not have went
through, (but) I learned a lot from it. It’s been good for me. I’m just excited
to be back to work, get back in the car and get back to normal. Get back to the
life that I’m used to.”
Earnhardt responded to speculation that he might sit-out the
remainder of the 2012 season, saying, “I left my options open. Like the decision
to get out of the car in the first place, I wanted the doctors to make that
decision instead of me. If I could race, I wanted to be at the race track. It’s
what I love to do. If the doctors felt that I was healthy enough to do that, I
wanted to be doing it. I’ve really kind of left all that up to them throughout
the whole process.”
He also responded to comments by other drivers, including former
series champion Jeff Gordon, that they would have hidden their symptoms and
remained in the car in pursuit of the championship.
“I can understand people’s opinions that they would try to push
through it, or ignore it to stay in the car,” said Earnhardt. “I did the same
thing in the past. Some concussions are kind of light, and the symptoms are real
light. If you don’t have another incident, you feel like you can get through
it. Some concussions are really bad, and I don’t care how tough you think you
are, if your mind is not working the way it is supposed to, it scares the shit
out of you. You are not going to think about race cars. You aren’t going to
think about trophies. You are not going to think about your job. You’re going
to be thinking, `what do I have to do to get my brain working the way it was
before?’ That’s going to jump right to the top of the priority list, I promise
you.
“I didn’t have a choice,” he said. “I knew something wasn’t
right. You want your brain to clear up and the fogginess to go away. Every
concussion is different. They’re kind of like snowflakes. Everyone is different
and you react differently to each one. You can’t ignore concussions. It’s
really dangerous doing that.
“It’s just been really
frustrating at times,” he said. “I felt like I could have raced in Kansas for
sure, and probably ran at Charlotte with no problem. I felt kind of foolish
sitting at home feeling okay, and not being in the car. It feels really
unnatural.”
He said substitute driver Regan Smith eased his fears that the
No. 88 would lose the momentum it built through the season.
“Regan did a really good job for the team,” Earnhardt said. “I
feel like we didn’t miss a beat and I can get back in the car as if nothing has
changed. That couldn’t have went better. It was really hard to see my car out
there running around turning laps without me in it. That was difficult. I
didn’t want to take any chances, and I wanted to get back in the car as soon as
I could.
‘But I wanted to make sure it was not too quick.”
Photos: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR, AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt
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