Dale Jr. glad to see statement on Hamlin, fine with NASCAR's medical process - MotorSportsTalk

Shortly after Dale Earnhardt Jr. sounded off on the lack of news regarding the condition of Denny Hamlin, word came that Hamlin had been cleared for this weekend’s race at Martinsville Speedway after doctors removed a sliver of metal from his eye.

Before today’s first practice session at Martinsville, Earnhardt said that the statement from Hamlin had eased his concerns about unfounded speculations regarding the Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s health.

“I thought a lack of a statement from Denny’s point of view left him vulnerable and unprotected (from speculation),” Earnhardt said to reporters. “I just felt like it was important for him to have a very simple statement that sort of cleared up any kind of assumptions or whatever you have for him, personally.

“That was good, I thought, on his behalf to do that as quickly as he could.”

JGR had initially said Hamlin was suffering from a vision-impairing sinus infection, which kept him out of last Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in California (Sam Hornish Jr. drove his car in a fill-in role). The decision to keep him out was revealed within an hour of the green flag.

He was taken to a local hospital and was released later that same evening.

The episode has caused some NASCAR observers, including USA Today’s Jeff Gluck, to call for the sanctioning body to install a traveling group of physicians to take care of the drivers (the series does have a traveling group of nurses, but doctors are usually chosen by each track).

However, Earnhardt believes that NASCAR’s medical process is fine.

I feel great about the process and what NASCAR has had in place for years,” he said. “They bring in the best people from that region that have the best connections to the hospitals in that region. If I am in trouble, I know I am going to be somewhere I am going to be taken care of very quickly.

“NASCAR has a team that travels and has all the information on our health and it is updated weekly if it needs to be. So I like the system we have in place, I feel like it’s adequate and I’m happy Denny is cleared and ready to race this weekend.”

Hamlin is scheduled to meet with the media at Martinsville later today.

Follow @estradawriting

Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

Dale Jr. glad to see statement on Hamlin, fine with NASCAR’s medical process

Hunter Lawrence defends Haiden Deegan after controversial block pass at Detroit

Read more about SuperMotocross