MARTINSVILLE, Va. - Dale Earnhardt, Jr. called his spur-of-the-moment announcement to pledge his brain to scientific research a “no-brainer.”
Earnhardt made his intentions known with a tweet during a week off from NASCAR racing. He was inspired by similar pledges from soccer star Brandi Chastain and former Oakland Raiders Art Thoms, George Atkinson and George Buehler in honor of their late teammate Ken Stabler.
“I saw a story … we obviously had the week off, and I was just sitting around reading Twitter and saw that story about the Raiders donating their brains,” said Earnhardt, who removed himself from competition for two races in 2012 after suffering his second concussion in six weeks during a crash at Talladega.
“I just thought that was amazing that those guys did that in honor of their teammate (Stabler suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy). I read where Brandi had done that maybe a month ago. That just was really inspiring and I saw someone mention, I don’t even know what the context of the Tweet I was responding to was.”
Earnhardt’s response, however, went viral, and it earned admiration from a broad segment of followers and television viewers, after the networks picked up the story.
“I just was in the moment of conversation, and that’s sometimes the comfort that you find yourself in on Twitter sometimes, and I didn’t expect it to turn into the story it did, but, by all means, if it raises more awareness and inspires people to donate their brains and pledge their brains…” said Earnhardt, who said he is an organ donor.
“They don’t need just athletes. They need everybody. I’m going to give up all the organs that are worth anything when it’s over with. They can have it all.”
Earnhardt said he hopes research progresses to the point where science won’t need his brain, but his pledge is sincere nevertheless.
“It was a no-brainer for me,” Earnhardt said. “They don’t need just athletes. They don’t need people that just play sports. They need brains from all over. Again, like I say, hopefully I’m going to have like 40, 50 more years, and the science has progressed so much that they don’t need it. But if they do, it’s there.”
Blaney: I’m Not The Star Of The Show
The Wood Brothers were expecting approximately 5,000 visitors to their open house in Stuart, Virginia, after Friday’s qualifying session at Martinsville Speedway, but driver Ryan Blaney was not under any illusions about whom the fans were coming to see.
“They’re not coming out to see me,” Blaney said. “They’re going to come out to see the Wood Brothers. I’m just going to be there and shake their hands. They’re the main stars up here in Virginia. They’re rock stars up here, so it’s cool just to be a part of it.”
The four Wood Brothers—NASCAR Hall of Famers Glen and Leonard Wood, along with Ray Lee and Delano—will all be there, as well as second-generation team owners Eddie and Len Wood.
“I’m going to be a part of it tonight to kind of share some stories with some old fans of theirs,” Blaney said. “It’s going to be cool. It’s going to be a lot of fun, but they’re definitely there to see them. Maybe if there’s like 5,000, there might be seven there to see me and most of the other ones there to see those guys.”
Blaney may not be the superstar at the open house, but he drove like one in Friday’s opening NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, posting the seventh fastest speed.
Decker Sisters, Cousin Competing At Martinsville
Successful late model drivers Claire and Paige Decker, along with cousin Natalie Decker, all hope to take the green flag in Saturday’s Alpha Energy Solutions 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway.
Claire, 21, and Paige, 23, are sisters from Eagle River, Wisconsin, and should they both make the field, they would be only the second pair of sisters ever to compete in the same Truck Series race, joining twins Amber and Angela Cope.
Claire, a former NASCAR Drive for Diversity competitor, is driving the No. 10 Chevrolet owned by Jennifer Jo Cobb. Paige is behind the wheel of Mike Harmon’s No. 74 RAM, having finished 30th in Harmon’s truck in her series debut at Martinsville last fall.
Cousin Natalie, 18, also a D4D alumna, is driving the No. 14 Chevrolet owned by Bob Newberry.
All told, 18 female drivers have competed in Truck Series races, led by Cobb, who has 117 starts. Cobb also boasts the best finish by a female in series history—sixth at Daytona in 2011. The highest finish by a female at Martinsville belongs to Deborah Renshaw, 15th in 2004.
Only once in NASCAR national series history has more than three women competed in the same race. That happened in the Truck Series at Martinsville in 2010, when the Cope twins, Cobb and Johanna Long all took the green flag.
On nine other occasions, three women have raced in the same NASCAR national series event: twice in Sprint Cup, four times in the XFINITY Series and four times in the Truck Series.
Short Strokes
With less than a minute left in Friday’s opening 80-minute NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice session, Trevor Bayne wheel-hopped into turn 1 and backed his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford into the outside wall near the apex of turns 1 and 2.
“We were giving up two to three tenths (of a second) into both corners, and I tried to just push the braking zone a little bit more, and it started wheel-hopping really bad,” Bayne said. “There was nothing I could do about it. Once it started bouncing, I tried to save it, and once it got backwards, I stood in the gas and it just backed in.”
With the No. 6 severely damaged, Bayne’s team rolled out a backup car.
WDUN will have live MRN Radio coverage of Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 500 from Martinsville Speedway beginning at 12 pm on 102.9 FM and 1 pm on 550 AM.
