The tales vast in number seem more folklore than genuine, and yet the authenticity is 100 percent. Each underlining the long held doctrine that NASCAR drivers are tough guys, who will do anything to win even if it’s at the expense of their personal well-being.
There was the time Richard Petty raced despite sustaining a broken neck. Or the time Ricky Rudd barrel rolled in a Daytona 500 preliminary event, his eyes swollen so badly he needed to tape them open just to compete in the Great American Race.
And no discussion of NASCAR drivers enduring pain to race is complete without mention of Davey Allison’s 1992 season, where various crashes saw him break ribs, a collarbone, arm and wrist. He even went as far to use Velcro to keep his hand stuck to the gear shifter so he could start the following week at Talladega Superspeedway.
“I can’t think of any better place to be,” Allison told CBS prior to start of the race. “It’s great therapy to be back in the car … we want to win this championship and that’s why I am here today.”
Allison’s words encapsulate exactly why for so many years drivers ignored their health and got back in the car long before they should have. To miss a race meant not scoring any points, which meant almost no possibility of winning a championship.
Though a foolish mindset, it was the reality of the time. If being crowned champion meant playing hurt, then so be it. In a way it was a badge of honor, a sign of toughness and manliness.
Thankfully that mentality has recently given way to commonsense and a seismic shift where the full credit goes to NASCAR for recognizing a driver’s title aspirations shouldn’t vanish merely because of injury.
By de-emphasizing points racing combined with a concentrated effort on safety — baseline concussion testing is now mandatory, a higher standard exists to gain medical clearance — the era of drivers attempting to prove their worth racing injured is gone.
The biggest change occurred last year when NASCAR completely restructured the Chase for the Sprint Cup, both in terms of how one qualifies and the playoff itself. Drivers can miss races and still maintain Chase eligibility, which eradicates the preposterous notion of competitors ignoring doctors’ orders or worse, masking an injury altogether.
Since NASCAR provided the option prior to the 2014 season, Tony Stewart (emotional distress), Brian Vickers (blood clots) and Kurt Busch (suspension) all were granted exemptions to miss race weekends outright. Denny Hamlin (eye) and Kyle Larson (fainting) each came down with an illness that precluded them from taking to the starting grid, but because they posted times in qualifying waivers weren’t required.
In Hamlin’s case, he pleaded with NASCAR president Mike Helton to let him race while laid up in Auto Club Speedway’s infield care center. But Helton explained there was no need. Hamlin could skip that day’s race and there would be no consequence, provided he win at some point during the regular season.
“You’ve got to build in some kind of protective bubble over the drivers when they have an incident that possibly they have to sit out because of a concussion,” Hamlin said a week later. “It’s hard to say, ‘You can’t be part of the championship picture because of something that’s relatively out of your control.’ Mike Helton explained it to me right as soon as we got out of that office: ‘This is why we built this system in place — for things like this. Your season is not over. Go win next weekend and everything is going to be fine.'”
Just as Helton stated, Hamlin’s title hopes were preserved when he won a few weeks later at Talladega, putting him in the Chase. He would go on to advance to the final playoff round, nearly taking the championship.
When Larson fainted last Saturday at Martinsville Speedway, which sidelined him for the next day’s race, he was able to laugh about the experience after the fact. Doctors and NASCAR medically cleared Larson on Thursday to return when the Sprint Cup Series resumes April 11 at Texas Motor Speedway.
“It sucks any time you can’t race, but I was happy that they were taking the time to make sure there wasn’t anything major wrong,” Larson said. “I wasn’t upset too badly that I had to miss the race, and I guess if there’s a race you’ve got to miss, Martinsville is my least favorite track.”
Previously, Hamlin and Larson in all likelihood wouldn’t have readily agreed to sit out. Now, through a dramatic and welcome change, there’s no rush. Their health, not accumulating points, is the utmost priority.
“With the way that the points structure and the championship Chase is determined, if you understand that, ‘Hey, it might be best to sit a race out,’ then that has to be a more viable option than it has been in the past,” Carl Edwards said. “Right now, if you had a good reason where missing a race might be better for your overall chances at winning the championship, then now you can actually look at that as a real option.”
“Everybody wants to race every race, but I believe we’re also all competitors enough and disciplined enough to know that if taking a week off is possible and it will help you then that’s absolutely what we’ll do.”
An option, which just a few short years ago, didn’t exist.
