Dale Earnhardt Jr. concussion at Talladega puts him out two races

AutoBlog: Dale Earnhardt Jr. concussion at Talladega puts him out two races

After suffering a concussion in the massive end-of-race 25-car pileup at Talladega last weekend, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will miss the next two races, and perhaps the rest of the NASCAR season. That crash marked Earnhardt's second concussion of the season; the first happened after a failed tire test in Kansas on August 29.

Earnhardt, who currently holds the 11th spot in NASCAR's Chase for the Cup, admits that he didn't report symptoms suffered after the first incident for fear that he would be removed from the championship hunt.

Said Earnhardt, "I remember everything about that accident, everything after that accident. But I knew I didn't feel ... you know your body and how your mind works. I knew something was just not quite right. I decided to push through and work through it." The driver said he was feeling "100 percent" before the race at Talladega.

The two-race setback, which will almost certainly eliminate him from championship contention, comes as a real blow to Earnhardt, who was having a bit of a comeback season. The driver broke a considerable 143-race winless streak this season. Sitting out the next two races will also snap a streak of 461 consecutive Sprint Cup starts for the No. 88 Mountain Dew Chevrolet driver.