Hendrick Motorsports talks about Dale Jr's status

Doug Douchardt, Greg Ives and Alex Bowman talked
to the media at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on
Friday.

LOUDON, NH – Hendrick Motorsports general manager Doug Duchardt, Crew Chief Greg Ives and Alex Bowman talked to the media at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Friday morning.

“At Kentucky, Dale started talking to (No. 88 team crew chief) Greg (Ives) that he wasn’t really feeling right,” Duchardt said. “I think as Dale pointed out in the statement, he felt like he had a cold or the flu or some sinus infection that was causing him to not feel well.”

After Dale Earnhardt, Jr. continued to feel bad last weekend at Kentucky, the initial plan was for him to start this weekend's New Hampshire race and be relieved by Alex Bowman.

“He notified Greg and I Tuesday morning before our competition meeting that he still wasn’t feeling real well,” Duchardt recalled. “At that point he told Greg and I to be thinking about potential backup plans if we had to put someone in the car to backfill for him, so he would start the car and we would have a replacement driver after he started the car, to have a contingency plan for that.”

Friday afternoon it was determined that Earnhardt, Jr. would not be able to race at all this weekend. Duchardt says they won't speculate on the long term impact of this on Earnhardt, Jr's career.

Should Earnhardt, Jr. not be able to race next week, Jeff Gordon will drive the No. 88 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The No. 88 driver after Indianapolis (if needed) has not been determined. A decision will be made around Wednesday next week.

“The whole time it’s not about, ‘Who are we going to get to backfill? What we are going to do when he does come back?’” the crew chief said. “It’s all about him getting better on a timeline that is satisfying to him. Not anything to do with the Chase, not anything to do with points or anything like that. Our team supports him 100 percent. We have a relationship that goes beyond driver. That is something that is more important than anything.”

Earnhardt, Jr. will need approval from a independent, board-certified neurologist before he is allowed to return.

“It’s definitely not the circumstances that I want to get an opportunity like this,” Bowman said. “Obviously I’m hoping Dale feels better, but at the same time it’s the best opportunity I’ve ever had in my life.”

The 23-year-old driver said his goal this weekend will be to try to fit in with the No. 88 team as seamlessly as possible.


“I’m not here to try to be Dale Earnhardt Jr. – I’m my own person – but I just need to plug in and give them the best feedback I can,” he said. “I’m really confident in the whole team, obviously they bring great race cars to the track every weekend, so if I just do my job I feel like I’ll just be good to plug into it.”