Dale Earnhardt Jr. explains what takes place when a driver goes to the infield care center

Dale Earnhardt Jr. peeled back the curtain to explain what happens when a NASCAR driver is taken to the infield care center.

No longer is it one of the great mysteries of the sport. Earnhardt Jr. explained it in great detail on this week’s Dale Jr Download.

“They’re all a little different as far as the layout, but there will be — there’s usually like a horseshoe desk in the middle, and there’ll be people in there doing different roles and responsibilities. And I’m not sure exactly what their roles are, but there will be a lead neurosurgeon, and possibly a lead doctor. There’ll be a guy in there to possibly check you for a concussion, in the room. But there’ll also be a physician to manage any kind of breaks, or any kind of severe wound or whatever you might have,” started Earnhardt. “So if you’ve got pain anywhere that might be a break or a bruise, that’s two different people working on top of you. So off to the side, there’s gurneys, and they’re divided by a curtain. So there’s one room with about three gurneys for however many drivers are in there at one time, and you’re all divided by a curtain.

“You don’t go to a, you know you don’t have a room. And the times that I’ve actually been in there where there’s a multi car crash, and it’s interesting. Every driver is in a different state of mind. You know, a guy might be in there madder than hell. Somebody might be in there you know, not in too bad of a mood. But it’s a really surreal moment. When you’re all sitting in there and everybody’s kind of getting checked out. They check your pulse and give you a good kind of physical exam, and ask you a lot of questions. And they’re watching you. Listening to you answer questions. Listening to how you’re responding. Paying attention. They’ve seen the wreck maybe on television, on a monitor in the room. They weren’t in the car with you. They weren’t out there watching it live. So they’re very inquisitive. So it sometimes can be annoying. Because you’re mad. Right? You’re out of the race, so you’re upset about that. But they’re asking these questions for a reason. Trying to truly understand how they might need to examine you, and what they might want to pay the most attention to.”

Of course, the fans only see what happens when a driver is released from the care center, and immediately hounded by the media. Earnhardt Jr. touched on how that comes to be, as well.

“Eventually you get, they’re like, ‘Hey, you’re good to go.’ And you take a walk towards the exit, and there’ll be maybe a public relations person, or somebody with your team, or somebody in your own family or your own group that’s with you, holding on to all your s—. They’ve got your helmet, and your ear plugs and your gloves,” explained the NASCAR veteran. “They’re like, ‘Hey, you feeling okay?’ And you’re like, ‘Yeah. Doing alright.’ Then, I’ll be honest with you, in that moment right there, the heartbreak sets in of the actual fact that you crashed and you’re out of the race. The results going to suck, you’re going to have to wait all week to go back to the racetrack to redeem yourself. It’s like this, right as you’re walking out of this medical center, you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, the reality of all this is I’ve had a terrible day, and a terrible result.’

“So then you end up walking into a media scrum or something like that, and try to explain what’s going on.”

Pretty fascinating. Next time we see a wreck on Sunday during a NASCAR race, we’ll know what happened afterward. Thanks, Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the informative description.