BRISTOL, Tenn. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. made an unexpected detour to the infield care center at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway following Friday night’s Food City 300 XFINITY Series race.
Finishing 13th in his first XFINITY Series race in more than a year, Earnhardt began to leave the track but then decided to make an unannounced trip to the infield care center.
After being treated for dehydration, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series superstar was released more than a half-hour later with a bandage on his left arm.
“My hands were cramping pretty bad at the end of the race and I have the race tomorrow I sweated a lot today, getting in and out of both cars and I sweated a ton yesterday in XFINITY practice,” Earnhardt told Motorsport.com.
“It was just precautionary and preventive.”
Earnhardt who co-owns the car he drove with sister Kelly Earnhardt Miller said he needed a couple bags of IV fluids and didn’t want to take any chances with 500 laps still to run in Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol.
“I think this was just a smart thing to do considering how many laps we have to run tomorrow,” he added. “Just to be on the safe side.”
The Hendrick Motorsports Cup driver has recovered from a concussion last season, but Friday night’s episode was likely spiked by his attentiveness of his health issues.
“It was really hot in my car but I didn’t think anything of it until the race stopped and my hands were cramped real bad around the steering wheel,” he said. “I thought, ‘Man, that’s not good.’ That can only be dehydration so I figured I’d better get in there and get some (fluids) and then I’ll drink a lot tonight.”
Earnhardt is scheduled to pull double-duty one more time in 2017 in three weeks at Richmond Raceway.
The 42-year-old driver is retiring from full-time Cup Series racing at the end of the season, but currently has at least one confirmed XFINITY Series start planned for 2018.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
