Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been sidelined from this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with concussion like symptoms, NASCAR has announced.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver said he was feeling unwell and was not cleared by doctors to race after an evaluation. Alex Bowman will drive the No. 88 Chevrolet SS in his place.
“I wasn’t feeling great the week going into Kentucky and thought it was possibly severe allergies,” Earnhardt said in a statement. “I saw a family doctor and was given medication for allergies and a sinus infection. When that didn’t help, I decided to dig a little deeper.
“Because of my symptoms and my history with concussions, and after my recent wrecks at Michigan and Daytona, I reached out and met with a neurological specialist.,” he added. “After further evaluation, they felt it was best for me to sit out.”
Earnhardt is winless in the regular season so far in 2016 and had high aspirations for New Hampshire after performing a tire test with Goodyear there in June. A timeline for his return has not yet been provided by Hendrick, however team owner Rick Hendrick expressed his appreciation for Earnhardt’s decision to take his health into account.
“I’m proud of Dale for standing up,” Hendrick said. “The number-one priority is his health, so we’re going to give him all the time he needs. We completely support the decision by the doctors and will be ready to go win races when he’s 100 percent. In the meantime, we have full confidence in Greg (Ives) and the team, and we know they’ll do a great job.”
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