Dale Earnhardt Jr. is struggling with his balance and feeling nauseous, NASCAR’s most popular driver disclosed on the Dale Jr. Download, a weekly podcast on his website that posted Monday afternoon.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is putting his health above racing as concussion-like symptoms linger
Earnhardt is struggling with balance and nausea, he said on his weekly podcast.
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In his first public comments since announcing he was battling concussion-like symptoms last Thursday, Earnhardt said he’s going to take his recovery slowly and follow the advice of his doctors diligently. He provided no specific timetable on when he may return.
“It’s just going to take a lot of patience,” Earnhardt said. “My health and quality of life is a top priority. I always do that. So I’m going to take this slow and strictly follow the advice of my doctors and try to learn as much as I can to be smarter and wiser. It’s always been a real experience to go through this stuff because you learn so much.
“My mind feels real sharp. I took the ImPACT [concussion] test, which measures thought process and the speed of your thought process, memory and retaining memory and my results matched my baseline [test], which made me feel confident my brain was pretty sharp. It feels good.”
Earnhardt’s status for this weekend’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be determined no later than Wednesday, team owner Rick Hendrick told reporters on Sunday. If Earnhardt cannot drive, Jeff Gordon will come out of retirement to substitute.
Earnhardt has a history of head injuries. He suffered a concussion in 2002 and two within a six-week span in 2012, which sidelined him for two races. In March, the 41-year-old pledged to donate his brain to science for concussion research.
“I’m going to continue to work with my doctors to understand more about the injury and how to treat it,” Earnhardt said. “They can give me a lot exercises to retrain my brain to handle what I need to handle.”
Alex Bowman drove Earnhardt’s No. 88 car Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, running solidly in the top 10 before cutting a left-rear tire and hitting the wall. And though he finished 26th, Earnhardt was impressed by Bowman’s performance.
“He did a great job, as I knew he would,” Earnhardt said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better substitute there. Alex was digging.”
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