After missing the last two weeks with concussion symptoms, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been cleared to race this weekend at Martinsville.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. missed the last two races due concussion symptoms suffered during a crash three weeks ago at Talladega Superspeedway. The race at Kansas was the first time that an Earnhardt hadn't participated in a race since 1979.
"Dale Jr. has done everything asked of him," said Jerry Petty, one of the two neurosurgeons in charge of monitoring Earnhardt, in press statement. "He hasn't had a headache since Oct. 12, and we have not been able to provoke any symptoms since that time. I have informed NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports that he is medically cleared for all NASCAR-related activity."
Earnhardt told reporters two weeks ago that he would have to miss time due to concussion issues that had started bothering him initially on Aug. 29 when he was in a crash during a tire test in Kansas. He hadn't been tested since the first crash and the second at Talladega, caused by Tony Stewart, only made things worse.
"It's not safe. It's bloodthirsty. If this was what we did every week, I wouldn't be doing it," said Earnhardt Jr. after the race in a press conference." I'll just put it to you that way. If this was how we raced every week, I'd find another job."
This isn't the first time he has been negligent when it comes to dealing with a concussions however. He famously admitted back in 2002 that he raced several weeks with a concussion which caused NASCAR to change their testing procedure for drivers that have been involved in a crash on the racetrack.
The crash caused Earnhardt to fall out of the top ten in the standings for the Sprint Cup Championship and missing two races meant he wouldn't win his first Sprint Cup Championship yet again.
Earnhardt had a streak of 461 consecutive starts before missing time. It was the fifth longest streak for active drivers in the Spring Cup Series.
Teammate Regan Smith drove Earnhardt's 88 Chevrolet at Charlotte and Kansas in his place and finished 38th and 7th in each event respectively. Smith also topped the Kansas track record last Thursday going 186.143 mph according to Sporting News.
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