The concussion suffered by two Cup Series drivers has raised a serious issue regarding safety concerns in the Next Gen car.
The Cup Series lost two of the potential championship winners in Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman. Busch would have been in the playoffs, courtesy of his win at Kansas Speedway. However, he has not been able to return to racing since his single-car qualifying crash at Pocono Raceway back in July.
As for Bowman, he was ruled out of the races at Talladega Superspeedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval due to similar symptoms. As he couldn’t race in the second and third races in the round of 12, he got eliminated.
Bubba Wallace refuses NBC interview after Kyle Petty called out for him to be suspended for the rest of the year
Having missed the second half of the 2016 season due to a concussion, Dale Jr. says that the injuries to the two drivers might not reflect the whole picture. Speaking on Dale Jr. Download, he said:
“Here’s my opinion. We’re having more people step up and say, ‘I’ve got a concussion.’ We’ve got Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman who are out of the car this year alone with a concussion, and those are the only two we know about.
“Let’s not fool ourselves. Drivers will get a concussion and race with it. It would not shock me if several of these guys got a concussion unknowingly and got back in the car — or knew that they had some sort of concussion in a crash — and continued to race.”
Earnhardt might not be too wrong in his assessment. Given the nature of the head injury, many might not even know that it could be dangerous to go out on the track again without proper treatment. And given its long-term effects, it is very necessary at the moment to take charge of the situation and make safety the top priority.
What about Gregson, he took out several cars in a retaliation move.
Now someone what’s Bubba Wallace gone for the rest of the season. BS!