Dale Earnhardt Jr. is easily the most popular driver in NASCAR. He is the most recognized driver in the sport and he has won nine straight Most Popular Driver awards in his career.
One thing he hasn't done yet though is win his first Sprint Cup championship. This year was shaping up to be his best chance at getting one, with Earnhardt sitting in the top 10 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings with six races to go.
But that bid will have to be put on hold at least for another year after Earnhardt suffered a concussion in last week's huge pileup crash during the final lap at the Talladega Superspeedway.
A statement from Hendrick Motorsports said Earnhardt was diagnosed with the concussion on Wednesday and that he will miss the next two Sprint Cup races, including the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte and the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas.
The move basically ends any chance for Earnhardt to win a Cup this season. Regan Smith will replace Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Chevrolet for the next two races.
Earnhardt, a five-time winner at Talladega, was caught up in the big crash that wrecked at least 20 cars on Sunday. It all began when defending NASCAR champ Tony Stewart was trying to block a car from passing him, spinning sideways and causing a 25-car pileup.
At least 10 of the Chase contenders were in the crash and it left Matt Kenseth with a clear field behind him to take the checkered flag.
Following the race Earnhardt was visibly frustrated and called restrictor plate racing "bloodthirsty".
"It's not safe. It's not. It's bloodthirsty," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said to the Associated Press. "If that's what people want, that's ridiculous."
The injury will also end his streak of 461 consecutive starts, which according to ESPN is the longest active streak in the Sprint Cup.
"If this was what we did every week, I wouldn't be doing it," Earnhardt said. "I'll just put it to you that way. If this was how we raced every week, I'd find another job. That's what the package is doing. It's really not racing. It's a little disappointing. It cost a lot of money right there."
The crash left Earnhardt in 20th place and dropped him down to the 11th spot in the Chase. Brad Keselowski currently sits in first place in the Sprint Cup standings.
"If this is how we're going to continue to race and nothing is going to change, how about NASCAR build the cars? It'll save us a lot of money," Earnhardt added.
He took back those comments a day later, but his point was clear: races with crashes involving 25 cars in not safe for competition.
Earnhardt told SB Nation on Tuesday: "I regret making a bit of a scene and not considering the fact we're going to be in a totally different race car for 2013. ... It was a bit heat of the moment, and I kind of regret getting that emotional about it. But I was just really upset about how that all went down. We'd run so good. I was really, really happy with my car in that race and I thought we should have been able to finish really good."
This year was shaping up to be a special one for Earnhardt. He won his first race in four years, winning the 2012 Quicken Loans 400 in Michigan to break a 143-race winless streak and put himself in a good position by making the Chase for the second straight year. But that is all over now after the crash and the concussion.
This is not the first time Earnhardt suffered a concussion. The first time he suffered one came back in 2002 after a crash in California. Back then though, he hid the concussion so he would be able to continue racing.
According to the Associated Press, Nationwide Series driver Eric McClure had concussion issues this season, missing six weeks after getting one at Talladega as well.
"There's not really a set timetable for those things and that's been the challenging thing," McClure said after his June return, according to the Associated Press. "That's what kept me from coming back was the lingering symptoms. I really felt a couple of weeks ago, after the first two weeks of being away from the track, and having total brain rest, that I was ready. But (my doctor) felt like we needed to wait, and I respect that opinion."
Earnhardt had support from fellow racers after the news came out about the latest concussion. On Twitter Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson said: "Crazy news this morning. I feel so bad for #DaleJr and the entire #88 team. Now we need to focus on his recovery."
While he will miss two races, don't count out Earnhardt for the final four of the season, even if it means he won't win a Cup championship.
