By Carlos Mendez, Fort Worth Star-Telegram –
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Sprint Cup driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a lot of time to think while he sat out two weeks with a concussion, and he realized something.
“I don’t care how tough you are, when your mind is not working the way it’s supposed to, it scares the (stuff) out of you,” he told reporters Friday at Martinsville Speedway, where he will compete Sunday in the Tums Fast Relief 500.
“You’re not going to think about trophies. You’re not going to think about your job. You’re going to think about, ‘How can I get my brain to working the way it was before?’ That’s going to jump to the top of the list for you.”
Earnhardt reported concussion symptoms after a race in Talladega, Ala., on Oct. 7, and he sat out the next two races.
It was an unusual move in the tough world of stock-car racing, but NASCAR, his team and competitors supported the decision.
Still, it cost Earnhardt the slim chance he had at winning the Sprint Cup championship.
“I hate the attention that it got, I hate kind of being in front of you guys here talking about it, but I’m glad I did what I did,” he said. “I’m glad I took the time off. I’m glad I made the choices I made. I didn’t want to do it, but I’m glad I did.”
Earnhardt sits 12th in the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings going into Sunday’s race, where he will race not only in a new, more protective helmet, but also as one of the favorites.
He was third in the Martinsville spring race, second in the spring race in 2011, and has a 100.1 driver rating here, which makes the .525-mile oval his best track.
Friday, he was second best in practice, but qualified 20th in his No. 88 Chevrolet.
“I feel like I’ve been out of the car for a year,” he said. “It doesn’t feel like it’s been a couple of weeks.”
Earnhardt said he followed doctor’s orders strictly. But it tested him more than he thought.
“The first 48 hours, they told me not to do anything,” he said. “I slept a lot. No TV. Just standing, walking around the house doing nothing. It was really weird. I went back to the doctor and I told him that I couldn’t do that any more, told him I needed to watch TV or play video games, do something for entertainment.”
It turned out to be exercise that broke the boredom. Physical therapy was part of Earnhardt’s treatment at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he met with concussion experts.
“I went to Pittsburgh a mess,” Earnhardt said. “I was mentally a mess. The doctors up there, we talked for the whole day and went through these exercises and did a lot of stuff, and in 12 hours, I felt really good. I felt completely different. I couldn’t believe it. It’s been pretty normal the last 15 days or so, have felt a lot better. Everything about my life is back to normal except the driving part. I just haven’t been able to do my job. I’m glad to be doing this.”
Earnhardt said he learned much about concussions from the doctors in Pittsburgh. He was able to tell the differences between the concussion at Talladega, at the back of his brain, and a concussion he suffered at a tire test in Kansas, at the front of his brain, earlier this year.
“The one at Talladega, it mixed up a lot of anxiety and emotional stuff,” he said. “The symptoms were more like anxiety-driven. If I would get into sort of a busy situation, I would get a lot of anxiety. I’m already like that — I’m not into crowds or a lot of people. So I was dealing with different symptoms when I went up to Pittsburgh. I was 8really frustrated, just having a lot of anxiety, ‘How long is this going to last?’ I had no answers or anything.
“Those guys, the professionals, just asked them everything. Went through all these drills and exercises. They ran me ragged. It was a fun day. By the end of the day, I understood the process a whole lot better.”
The concussion interrupted one of Earnhardt’s best seasons. He has matched his career high for top-5s in a season, and he has more top-10s than he has in a season. He also ended a four-year victory drought this season with a win at Michigan, and next weekend, he has a chance to run at Texas Motor Speedway, site of his first career Sprint Cup win 12 years ago.
Earnhardt said he won’t hide a concussion if he feels symptoms again. He had one before the Talladega concussion. He realizes that if he continues to get concussions, it could mean an early end to his career.
“I don’t really think about that too much,” he said. “One thing I can tell you is that I’m going to be honest with myself and with the doctors and do whatever they tell me to do. I want to be able to live a full life and not have any issues down the road, but I feel pretty fortunate to have recovered from this concussion rather quickly. I feel lucky that I made the choices that I did to give myself that opportunity. I just hope that I don’t have any more big hits for a while and race for another five to 10 years and have some fun.”
