NASCAR needs to give injured drivers a break

It’s a question that gets brought up at some point each season, but with two of NASCAR’s stars affected at the same time, should drivers be forced to get into race cars when injured?

In this enlightened age of safety awareness in stock-car racing, it’s still somewhat baffling as to why drivers such as Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart would have to risk further injury by qualifying and at least starting their cars this weekend. Gordon took a massive hit last week at Las Vegas but says he’s good to go this weekend at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Stewart, on the other hand, injured his foot twice last weekend and would be wise to let it heal for a week or two. He’ll never do that because a loss of a full race’s points could prove devastasting in September. So Stewart, as most drivers have done at some point in their careers, will suit up and bite the bullet Sunday.

As it is with NASCAR (and other sports, to be honest), things only change when something drastic happens. It took Dale Earnhardt’s death to revolutionize the way safety is handled in the sport. Will it take an injured driver either seriously injuring himself or another driver during a race to get this changed?

For example, what if a driver gets back in a car the week after suffering a concussion — even a light one — and has a dizzy spell going 190 mph? Is the risk worth protecting a few points?

It’s been suggested drivers get injury relief, either by letting a substitute go the entire weekend in the car and the driver getting the points, or by letting all drivers get at least one week they can wipe off their record each year. On the first point, is it really any different if a driver starts a race and goes three laps and lets somebody else finish? Did the injured driver really deserve all the points?

Whatever the solution, NASCAR should take a look at it before it has to.