Dale Earnhardt Jr. has concussion

ESPN.COM ^ | 10/11/2012 | AP SOURCES

[alancarp]

CONCORD, N.C. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a concussion and will sit out the next two Sprint Cup races at Charlotte and Kansas.

The injury ends NASCAR's most popular driver's championship chances this season.

[alancarp]

Regan Smith will drive the 88 car in the next two races.

[Roccus]

PING!!!

[alancarp]

I don’t have the whole NASCAR ping list, but hopefully y’all can get that going.

[Doogle]

"I smell fishy...????....I mean this smells fishy"

[Roccus]

Jr. had scant chance of winning the championship this year anyway. I wonder if this claim of concussion might be more damage control to explain his remarks after Talladega. He was far from carrying the company line and NASCAR doesn't take well to being dissed. Remember what happened to JJ and Knaus after he (Knaus) gave them the verbal finger last fall at ‘dega.

That being said, I do hope Jr. is OK.

[alancarp]

Fishy? How so? There sure ain’t no upside to NASCAR’s ratings... or even ticket sales... to have Jr. miss his home track’s race.

[alancarp]

Ah gotcha - I missed that bit. That said, I’ll bet the brass aren’t happy at all about this announcement. Wonder when we’ll hear from Jr. himself.

[Doogle]

...JR’s comments shortly after the race....CZAR Helton was not pleased

[Roccus]

IMO, he would be wise to go home, recuperate and avoid interviews until the dust settles. However, a blow-up between Jr. and NASCAR might be EXACTLY what Brain France needs needs to get his head on straight. (if that's even possible)

[alancarp]

Apparently that isn't gonna happen: Earnhardt to address the media (11am edt today?).

Plot getting a bit thicker.

[alancarp]

Updated story here: news conference to include Letarte and Rick H.

[Roccus]

Thanks for that.

[alancarp]

Just read a summary of the post-race comments from from here.

Though he later issued an apology - 'regretting' those remarks, I can't disagree with him in the slightest. The plate races aren't races, IMHO. Individual cars performing well cannot succeed on their own, and going 4-wide at high speed is an obvious recipe for disaster. Those cars were packed in tighter than those in a Walmart parking lot on Black Friday.

[Iron Munro]

I smell dead tuna.

This stinks almost as much as Obama’s September emplyment/unemployment reports.

Reports all said Dale suffered no injuries.

Now this.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

I’m inclined to believe it. While the HANS Device and other similar head-and-neck restraints do an admirable job of preventing neck injuries and basilar skull fractures, they put drivers at greater risk for closed-head injuries. Even though the head stops moving, the brain still moves inside the skull.

[Dead Corpse]

Yep. That last lick Jr. took looked hard enough to scramble your brains no matter what you had them encased in or restrained by.

[Roccus]

According to this
http://espn.go.com/dallas/story/_/id/8489668/dale-earnhardt-jr-concussion-2-races

concussion happened a couple of weeks ago.

[commish]

concussion happened a couple of weeks ago.

Not sure where you are getting that from that story.

According to Hendrick Motorsports, Jr. definately suffered the concussion on Sunday at Dega.

Now he did take a really hard lick during testing at Kansas in August, and he did suffer a concussion in 2002 in a wreck at California.

[Roccus]

Got it from the link supplied.

Jr. says it happened in KS
30 secs. ago

[deport]

Listen to the video with Ricky Craven which mentions the Kansas crash and concussion...... Who knows all the info or at least it seems to be coming in bits and pieces.

[commish]

Thanks. Didn’t listen to the report, just read the article and also the report on NASCAR.COM in which Hendrick says it happened Sunday.

Looks like the Hendrick spokesman and Jr are not on the same page. LOL.

[deport]

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/dale-earnhardt-jr-concussion-races-17451321

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will miss the next two races with his second concussion in the past six weeks, ending the championship chances of NASCAR’s most popular driver.

The first concussion, suffered in a crash during an Aug. 29 tire test at Kansas, went undiagnosed until Wednesday, when Earnhardt was examined in Charlotte for lingering effects from Sunday’s crash at Talladega.

End snip

[Roccus]

From Jr.’s ongoing presser;

Wreck at KS was 40G’s. He knew he got hurt, raced anyway and it took a while to feel better.
Wreck at ‘dega was 20G’s. Said he knew it wasn't a bad wreck but had headache after race and waited a while ‘til things cleared up before seeing doctor and making decision to withdraw from season.

[Roccus]

“withdraw for season” should be “a couple of weeks”

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks and Ouch! probably got it from a b*tch slap to the helmet from Helton after his Dega comments.. which I agree with 110%.

Junior may want to consider retiring and taking his game elsewhere.. Maybe Nascar could do with some competition.

Maybe fans would prefer a new league for racers .. just a thought.

[Roccus]

Jr. presser is over. Not much else went on

Now Steve O’Donald (?) from NASCAR to answer questions.

[Roccus]

O’donell says “the process worked.”

Reporter asks, How can you say that when he drove after KS without seeing Dr....O’Donell blah-blah-blah Texas two step.

Times reporter asks, After 2 concussions and Keslowski’s broken ankle, how safe are the cars?......what a freakin’ idiot. No wonder she works for the Times

[Roccus]

Reporter, How can you change drivers’ mind set to hide injuries? O’Donnell....talks but says nothing.

[alancarp]

Yeah, let’s see her wreck at 200 mph and see if she can walk away from it.

[Roccus]

I don’t care if she can take the hit, but at least know SOMETHING about the sport.

[DYngbld]

There sure ain’t no upside to NASCAR’s ratings... or even ticket sales... to have Jr. miss his home track’s race.

I'll be at KS in a couple of weeks. I suspect there will 20-30% less butt heads at the track. (The Jr fans that know nothing about NASCAR except Jr)
The rest of us will have a nice enjoyable race, and won't miss the jerks.

[little-e]

As a Dale Jr. fan, who apparently knows nothing about racing,my prayers go out to him and hope he has a full recovery...

[Doogle]

AHA!!!....now we find out JR. had a concussion in Aug tire testing that no one knew about..(at least I didn’t know)...now, I understand the concern...too many head knocks...

[McGruff]

Sorry to hear this. If anyone should have a headache after Talledega it would be Smoke. Glad to hear Regan Smith would be the substitute. He's impressed me.

[advertising guy]

what did Dale say...I missed it and cannot find it

[NormsRevenge]

Drivers grumbling after wreckfest at Talladega
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/drivers-grumbling-wreckfest-talladega-224313812—nascar.html

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — The pack is apparently here to stay and NASCAR drivers don’t like it one bit.

That includes Dale Earnhardt Jr., who earned seven of his 19 career victories slicing and dicing his way through traffic in restrictor-plate races. NASCAR’s most popular driver called pack racing ‘’bloodthirsty’’ and unsafe after Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway, which was marred by a last-lap 25-car accident.

‘’I don’t even want to go to Daytona or Talladega next year, but I ain’t got much choice,’’ Earnhardt grumbled.

..

[NormsRevenge]

‘’There has been a last-lap wreck in like 90 percent of these things for the last four years with this car,’’ said Earnhardt. ‘’Somebody needs to change it.’’

[advertising guy]

thanks